爪

See also: 爫, 瓜, 手, and 寸

Translingual

Stroke order

Alternative forms

• 爫 – when used as a top radical

Han character

爪 (Kangxi radical 87, 爪+0, 4 strokes, cangjie input 竹中人 (HLO), four-corner 7223₀, composition ⿸𠂆⿰丨乀)

1. Kangxi radical #87, ⽖.

Derived terms

• Index:Chinese radical/爪

References

• Kangxi Dictionary: page 688, character 26
• Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 19653
• Dae Jaweon: page 1101, character 12
• Hanyu Da Zidian (first edition): volume 3, page 2030, character 1
• Unihan data for U+722A

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Chinese

trad.		爪
simp. #		爪
alternative forms		㕚 ancient

Glyph origin

Historical forms of the character 爪
Shang	Western Zhou	Shuowen Jiezi (compiled in Han)	Liushutong (compiled in Ming)
Oracle bone script	Bronze inscriptions	Small seal script	Transcribed ancient scripts

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

	Old Chinese
抓	*ʔsruː, *ʔsruːʔ, *ʔsruːs
爪	*ʔsruːʔ
笊	*ʔsruːʔ, *ʔsruːs
找	*ʔsruːʔ

Pictogram (象形) – a hand grabbing from above (in earlier forms from side); compare 手, 寸, 九.

Definitions

(deprecated template usage) 爪

1. claw (of animal, bird); talon; paw; nail
2. (Hakka) to grab with claws
3. claw-like object; foot (of an item)
4. (derogatory or humorous) hand (of a person)
5. a surname

Usage notes

• 爪 (zhuǎ) ― paws or claws of vertebrates, except for humans, bears, ducks, geese and swans
• 鉗／钳 (qián) ― claws of arthropods (crabs, clawed lobsters, scorpions, etc.)
• 掌 (zhǎng) ― hands, paws or claws of humans (only in compounds), bears, ducks, geese or swans
• 手 (shǒu) ― hands or hooves of humans or swines (only when swine hoof as a food)
• 蹄 (tí) ― hooves

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Japanese

Kanji

爪

(Jōyō kanji)

1. nail, claw

Readings

• Go-on: しょう (shō)^{←せう (seu, historical)}
• Kan-on: そう (sō)^{←さう (sau, historical)}
• Kun: つめ (tsume, 爪, Jōyō); つま (tsuma, 爪, Jōyō ^†)

Etymology 1

Kanji in this term
爪
つめ Grade: S
kun'yomi

From Old Japanese, in turn from Proto-Japonic *tumay. The standalone form of tsuma below. Likely derived as a fusion of tsuma + emphatic nominalizing particle い (i), similar to the phonetic development of 目 (me, from ma + i) or 神 (kami, from kamu + i).

Noun

爪(つめ) • (tsume) 

1. nail; claw

Derived terms

• 鷹(たか)の爪(つめ) (taka no tsume)

 

Etymology 2

Kanji in this term
爪
つま Grade: S
kun'yomi

From Old Japanese, presumably in turn from Proto-Japonic *tuma. The root form of tsume above, generally only used in compounds. Cognate with 端 (tsuma, “edge, side of something”) and 妻 (tsuma, “wife”, original sense of “spouse”).

Affix

爪(つま) • (tsuma) 

1. (only in compounds) nail; claw

Derived terms

Derived terms

• 爪(つま)音(おと) (tsumaoto, “the sound of a stringed instrument when plucked with a pick or plectrum; the sound of a horse's hoofbeat”)
• 爪(つま)弾(び)く (tsumabiku, “to pluck with one's fingernail, such as a stringed instrument”)
• 爪(つま)折(お)る (tsumaoru, “to pick or break something off with one's fingernails”)
• 爪(つま)隠(かくし), 爪(つま)隠(かく)し (tsumakakushi, “hiding one's claws; a kind of zōri grass sandal, where the front end extends and folds over the tops of the toes”)
• 爪(つま)先(さき) (tsumasaki, “tiptoe”)
• 摘(つ)まむ (tsumamu, “to pinch; to pick at; to pick something up with the tips of one's fingers”)
• 摘(つ)む (tsumu, “to pick something up with the tips of one's fingers; to snip the tip off of something”)
• 躓(つまず)く (tsumazuku, “to stumble”)
• 爪(つま)楊(よう)枝(じ) (tsuma yōji, “a small toothpick”)

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Khitan

Etymology

Distantly related with Proto-Mongolic *jaxun (“hundred”), whence Classical Mongolian ᠵᠠᠭᠤᠨ (ǰaɣun) (> Mongolian зуу (zuu) and Daur jau).

Numeral

爪 (jau)

1. hundred (100)

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Korean

Hanja

爪 • (jo) (hangeul 조, revised jo, McCune–Reischauer cho, Yale co)

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

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Vietnamese

Han character

(deprecated template usage) 爪 (trảo, trẩu, vuốt, trảu)

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