捞
Character Story & Explanation
Historically, 捞 appears in Ming- and Qing-dynasty legal and economic texts referring to unauthorized dredging of riverbeds for gold or tax evasion via underreported harvests. Today, it’s ubiquitous in spoken and online Mandarin: ‘捞金’ (lāo jīn, ‘scoop gold’) describes overseas job seekers chasing high salaries; ‘捞人’ (lāo rén, ‘fish up people’) means rescuing someone from trouble (e.g., legal detention). The phrase ‘捞过界’ (lāo guò jiè, ‘scoop beyond one’s boundary’) is widely used in Hong Kong media to criticize overreach by authorities.
The character combines 扌 (hand radical) and 牢 (láo, ‘secure, prison’—here serving phonetically). While not a pictograph, its structure reflects action + purpose: the hand performing an act of retrieval. No oracle-bone or bronze script forms survive; earliest attestations are in Han-era bamboo slips documenting granary audits involving ‘捞取余粮’ (lāo qǔ yú liáng, ‘retrieve surplus grain’).
‘Lāo’ (捞) literally means ‘to fish up’—pulling something from liquid, especially water or soup. It conveys active retrieval: scooping, dredging, or salvaging with effort and intention. Unlike passive verbs like ‘find’ or ‘get,’ 捞 emphasizes physical motion and agency, rooted in the hand radical 扌. This action-oriented nuance appears across literal and metaphorical uses—from fishing nets to financial ‘quick grabs.’
In modern Chinese, 捞 frequently appears in idiomatic, often critical contexts: ‘捞钱’ (lāo qián, ‘to scoop money’) implies opportunistic or unethical profiteering, while ‘捞油水’ (lāo yóu shuǐ, ‘scoop grease-water’) is a centuries-old idiom for extracting illicit benefits. These usages reflect deep cultural awareness of resource extraction ethics—echoing Confucian warnings against greed and bureaucratic abuse.
Western equivalents vary by register: ‘to scoop up’ captures the physical motion; ‘to cash in on’ or ‘to exploit’ mirrors its figurative critique. But no single English verb carries both the tactile precision and moral weight of 捞. Like ‘glean’ (from Latin *glennare*, to gather grain), it evokes labor and scarcity—but 捞 adds urgency, sometimes even desperation, as in ‘捞救命稻草’ (lāo jiùmìng dàocǎo, ‘grasp at straws’), where survival hinges on swift retrieval.
Example Sentences
Common Compounds
Similar Characters — Don't Mix These Up
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