挖

挖 U+6316, 挖 CJK UNIFIED IDEOGRAPH-6316 ← 挕 [U+6315] CJK Unified Ideographs 挗 → [U+6317]

Translingual

Han character

挖 (Kangxi radical 64, 手+6, 9 strokes, cangjie input 手十金弓 (QJCN), four-corner 5301₇, composition ⿰扌穵)

Derived characters

• 𫪶

References

• Kangxi Dictionary: page 431, character 13
• Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 12070
• Dae Jaweon: page 780, character 18
• Hanyu Da Zidian (first edition): volume 3, page 1875, character 11
• Unihan data for U+6316

Chinese

Glyph origin

Characters in the same phonetic series (乙) (Zhengzhang, 2003) 

	Old Chinese
劜	*qreːd
札	*sqriːd
扎	*sqriːd
蚻	*ʔsriːd
紮	*ʔsriːd
軋	*qriːd
圠	*qriːd
穵	*qriːd, *qʷriːd
挖	*qʷriːd
鳦	*qriːd, *qrid
耴	*ŋrid, *teb
乙	*qriɡ
肊	*qrɯɡ

Etymology 1

trad.		挖
simp. #		挖

Pronunciation

• Mandarin

  (Standard)

  (Pinyin): wā (wa¹)

  (Zhuyin): ㄨㄚ

  (Chengdu, Sichuanese Pinyin): wa¹

  (Dungan, Cyrillic and Wiktionary): ва (va, I)

• Cantonese (Jyutping): waat³, waa¹
• Hakka (Sixian, PFS): yet / yat
• Eastern Min (BUC): uă
• Southern Min

  (Hokkien, POJ): uih / oeh / oat / oa

  (Teochew, Peng'im): uai¹

• Wu (Wugniu)
  • (Northern): ⁷uaq

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• Mandarin
  • (Standard Chinese)⁺
    • Hanyu Pinyin: wā
    • Zhuyin: ㄨㄚ
    • Tongyong Pinyin: wa
    • Wade–Giles: wa¹
    • Yale: wā
    • Gwoyeu Romatzyh: ua
    • Palladius: ва (va)
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /wä⁵⁵/
  • (Chengdu)
    • Sichuanese Pinyin: wa¹
    • Scuanxua Ladinxua Xin Wenz: ua
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /ua⁵⁵/
  • (Dungan)
    • Cyrillic and Wiktionary: ва (va, I)
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /va²⁴/

    (Note: Dungan pronunciation is currently experimental and may be inaccurate.)

• Cantonese
  • (Standard Cantonese, Guangzhou–Hong Kong)⁺
    • Jyutping: waat³, waa¹
    • Yale: waat, wā
    • Cantonese Pinyin: waat⁸, waa¹
    • Guangdong Romanization: wad³, wa¹
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /waːt̚³/, /waː⁵⁵/
• Hakka
  • (Northern Sixian, incl. Miaoli)
    • Pha̍k-fa-sṳ: yet
    • Hakka Romanization System: ied`
    • Hagfa Pinyim: yad<sup>5</sup>
    • Sinological IPA: /i̯et̚²/
  • (Southern Sixian, incl. Meinong)
    • Pha̍k-fa-sṳ: yat
    • Hakka Romanization System: (r)iad`
    • Hagfa Pinyim: yad⁵
    • Sinological IPA: /(j)i̯at̚²/
• Eastern Min
  • (Fuzhou)
    • Bàng-uâ-cê: uă
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /ua⁵⁵/
• Southern Min
  • (Hokkien: Xiamen, Quanzhou)
    • Pe̍h-ōe-jī: uih
    • Tâi-lô: uih
    • Phofsit Daibuun: uiq
    • IPA (Xiamen): /uiʔ³²/
    • IPA (Quanzhou): /uiʔ⁵/
  • (Hokkien: Zhangzhou)
    • Pe̍h-ōe-jī: oeh
    • Tâi-lô: ueh
    • Phofsit Daibuun: oeq
    • IPA (Zhangzhou): /ueʔ³²/
  • (Hokkien: Xiamen, Quanzhou, Zhangzhou, General Taiwanese)
    • Pe̍h-ōe-jī: oat
    • Tâi-lô: uat
    • Phofsit Daibuun: oad
    • IPA (Xiamen, Zhangzhou, Taipei, Kaohsiung): /uat̚³²/
    • IPA (Quanzhou): /uat̚⁵/
  • (Hokkien: Xiamen, Quanzhou, Zhangzhou)
    • Pe̍h-ōe-jī: oa
    • Tâi-lô: ua
    • Phofsit Daibuun: oaf
    • IPA (Xiamen, Zhangzhou): /ua⁴⁴/
    • IPA (Quanzhou): /ua³³/

Note:

• uih/oeh - vernacular (“to dig; to uncover”);
• oat - literary;
• oa - common literary variant.

• (Teochew)
  • Peng'im: uai¹
  • Pe̍h-ōe-jī-like: uai
  • Sinological IPA ^(key): /uai³³/
• Wu
  • (Shanghai):
    • Wugniu: ⁷uaq
    • MiniDict: uah^入
    • Wiktionary Romanisation (Shanghai): ⁴uaq
    • Sinological IPA (Shanghai): /uaʔ⁵⁵/

---

• Dialectal data

Variety	Location	edit 挖
Mandarin	Beijing	/ua⁵⁵/
	Harbin	/ua⁴⁴/
	Tianjin	/vɑ²¹/
	Jinan	/va²¹³/
	Qingdao	/va²¹³/ ～洞 /va⁵⁵/ ～飯
	Zhengzhou	/ua²⁴/
	Xi'an	/ua²¹/
	Xining	/ua⁴⁴/
	Yinchuan	/va⁴⁴/
	Lanzhou	/va¹³/
	Ürümqi	/va⁴⁴/
	Wuhan	/ua⁵⁵/ ～苦 /ua²¹³/ ～土
	Chengdu	/ua⁵⁵/
	Guiyang	/ua⁵⁵/
	Kunming	/ua̠⁴⁴/
	Nanjing	/uɑʔ⁵/
	Hefei	/uɐʔ⁵/
Jin	Taiyuan	/vaʔ²/
	Pingyao	/uɑ¹³/
	Hohhot	/va³¹/
Wu	Shanghai	/uaʔ⁵/
	Suzhou	/uaʔ⁵/
	Hangzhou	/ʔuɑʔ⁵/
	Wenzhou	/o²¹³/
Hui	Shexian	/uaʔ²¹/
	Tunxi	/uːə⁵/
Xiang	Changsha	/ua²⁴/
	Xiangtan	/uɒ²⁴/
Gan	Nanchang	/uaʔ⁵/
Hakka	Meixian	/va⁴⁴/
	Taoyuan	/vet̚²²/
Cantonese	Guangzhou	/wat̚³/
	Nanning	/wɛt̚³³/ /wat̚³³/
	Hong Kong	/wat̚³/
Min	Xiamen (Hokkien)	/uat̚³²/
	Fuzhou (Eastern Min)	/uɑʔ²³/
	Jian'ou (Northern Min)	/ua⁵⁴/
	Shantou (Teochew)	/uai³³/
	Haikou (Hainanese)	/uak̚⁵/

---

• Old Chinese

  (Zhengzhang): /*qʷriːd/

Zhengzhang system (2003)
Character	挖
Reading #	1/1
No.	14918
Phonetic component	乙
Rime group	質
Rime subdivision	1
Corresponding MC rime	婠
Old Chinese	/*qʷriːd/
Notes	穵晚起分化字

Definitions

挖

1. (literary or Hokkien) to dig; to dig out; to gouge out; to scoop

   挖耳屎 [Cantonese]  ―  waat³ ji⁵ si² [Jyutping]  ―  to remove ear wax

2. (figurative) to explore; to discover; to go deep into
3. (Hokkien) to uncover; to unveil; to expose; to reveal

Synonyms

Dialectal synonyms of 挖 (“to dig”) [map]

Variety	Location	Words edit
Formal (Written Standard Chinese)		挖
Mandarin	Taiwan	挖
	Yantai (Muping)	挖
	Wanrong	掘
	Xi'an	挖
	Ürümqi	挖
	Wuhan	挖
	Yangzhou	挖
	Malaysia	挖
	Singapore	挖
Cantonese	Guangzhou	掘
	Hong Kong	掘
Gan	Nanchang	挖
	Pingxiang	挖
Jin	Taiyuan	挖
Eastern Min	Fuzhou	掘
Southern Min	Xiamen	搤, 摀, 挖
	Quanzhou	搤, 挖
	Jinjiang	搤
	Zhangzhou	摀, 挖
	Tainan	搤, 摀
	Singapore (Hokkien)	搤, 摀
	Manila (Hokkien)	搤
	Leizhou	掘
	Haikou	掘
Southern Pinghua	Nanning (Tingzi)	挖
Wu	Shanghai	掘
	Shanghai (Chongming)	挖
	Suzhou	掘
	Wenzhou	掘
	Jinhua	掘

• (to dig): 掏 (tāo); (Hokkien) 搤, 摀／𰓆

Compounds

• 挖土機／挖土机 (wātǔjī)
• 挖掘 (wājué)
• 挖掉
• 挖掘機／挖掘机 (wājuéjī)
• 挖槽機／挖槽机
• 挖泥船
• 挖潛／挖潜
• 挖牆腳／挖墙脚 (wā qiángjiǎo)
• 挖穴
• 挖空心思 (wākōngxīnsī)
• 挖耳 (wā'ěr)
• 挖肉補瘡／挖肉补疮
• 挖苦 (wākǔ)
• 挖補／挖补 (wābǔ)
• 挖角 (wājué)
• 挖角兒／挖角儿
• 挖通

 

Etymology 2

trad.		挖
simp. #		挖

Pronunciation

• Southern Min (Hokkien, POJ): ó͘ / óe

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• Southern Min
  • (Hokkien: Xiamen, Zhangzhou, General Taiwanese, Kaohsiung)
    • Pe̍h-ōe-jī: ó͘
    • Tâi-lô: óo
    • Phofsit Daibuun: or
    • IPA (Xiamen, Zhangzhou, Taipei): /ɔ⁵³/
    • IPA (Kaohsiung, Kaohsiung): /ɔ⁴¹/
  • (Hokkien: Taipei)
    • Pe̍h-ōe-jī: óe
    • Tâi-lô: ué
    • Phofsit Daibuun: oea
    • IPA (Taipei): /ue⁵³/

Definitions

挖

1. (Hokkien) Alternative form of 摀／𰓆 (“to dig”)

Etymology 3

trad.		挖
simp. #		挖

Pronunciation

• Southern Min (Hokkien, POJ): iah

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• Southern Min
  • (Hokkien: Xiamen, Quanzhou, General Taiwanese, Singapore)
    • Pe̍h-ōe-jī: iah
    • Tâi-lô: iah
    • Phofsit Daibuun: iaq
    • IPA (Xiamen, Taipei, Kaohsiung, Singapore): /iaʔ³²/
    • IPA (Quanzhou): /iaʔ⁵/

Definitions

挖

1. (Hokkien) Alternative form of 搤 (iah, “to dig”)

References

• “挖”, in 漢語多功能字庫 (Multi-function Chinese Character Database)‎^[1], 香港中文大學 (the Chinese University of Hong Kong), 2014–

Japanese

Kanji

挖

(uncommon “Hyōgai” kanji)

1. This term needs a translation to English. Please help out and add a translation, then remove the text {{rfdef}}.

Readings

• On (unclassified): あつ (atsu); あち (achi)
• Kun: あばく (abaku, 挖く)

Vietnamese

Han character

挖: Hán Nôm readings: oạt

1. This term needs a translation to English. Please help out and add a translation, then remove the text {{rfdef}}.