佗

tuó
verb #73,913

Meanings

  1. 1 to carry on the back
  2. 2 other; another (archaic)

Examples

HSK 7-9
Huà Tuó shì Dōnghàn mònián de míngyī.
Hua Tuo was a famous physician at the end of the Han dynasty.
HSK 7-9
Gǔwén lǐ tuó kě tōng tā zì, biǎoshì biéde.
In old texts 佗 can be borrowed for the word "other".

Tips

culture
Most learners meet this character only in the name 华佗, the legendary Han-dynasty surgeon credited with early anesthesia. Its plain meaning is 'to carry on the back' (a variant of 驮); in classical texts it was also borrowed to write 他 'other'.

Components

radical
亻 rén
person (left-side radical)
The side-person radical 亻, the left form of 人. It marks 佗 as a person doing something - carrying a load - and supports its later use as a personal pronoun 'other (person)'.
phonetic
它 tā
it (phonetic)
The right side 它 supplies the sound (tā shifting to tuó). The same phonetic core appears in 驮 'to carry on an animal's back' and 陀, a tight tuó sound family.

Stroke Order

佗 tuó