刮

guā
#2,345 most
frequent character
scratch, shave, fleece, extort
verb

Character breakdown

Source: Make Me a Hanzi.

刮 guā has 刂 knife for meaning and a sound part written 舌, but it is not the 舌 shé 'tongue' word. A knife scraping fits the first sense: to rub or scrape. 'To shave' grew from that; 'to blow,' of wind, was borrowed for sound.

Ask DeepSeek

Example Sentences

他用刀刮胡子。
tāyòng dāo guā húzǐ 。
He shaves his beard with a knife.
风刮得很大。
fēng guādé hěndà 。
The wind is blowing very strongly.
她在刮刮乐上赢了很多钱。
tāzài guāguālè shàng yíngle hěnduō qián 。
She won a lot of money on the scratch card.

Same Characters, Different Readings

刮guā
scratch, shave, fleece, extort

Words with similar meanings

剃tì
to shave
剃 specifically refers to shaving hair closely, often used in the context of shaving one's head or face.
扫sǎo
to sweep
扫 can mean to sweep away or remove something, used more generally than 刮.

Homophones

瓜guā
melon
刮guā
scratch, shave, fleece, extort

Words Starting With 刮

刮风guā fēng
to be windy

Your word lists

Sign in to add this word to your private lists.