拉
Character Story & Explanation
拉 is one of the most frequently used verbs in modern Mandarin — appearing in everyday speech, media, and official documents. It’s central to idioms like 拉帮结派 (lā bāng jié pài, 'to form cliques'), historically documented in 20th-century political discourse, and widely used today to describe informal networking. You’ll also hear it in transport contexts (e.g., 拉客 lā kè — 'to solicit customers', especially by taxi drivers) and in tech slang (e.g., 拉群 lā qún — 'to add people to a WeChat group').
The character evolved from seal script, where 扌 (hand) + 立 (standing) combined to suggest 'applying steady force with the hand'. While not a pictograph, its structure reflects classical semantic composition — confirmed by Shuōwén Jiězì (121 CE), China’s earliest dictionary, which defines 拉 as 'drawing or dragging with force' (引也). No oracle bone form survives, but its form stabilized during the Han dynasty.
Hi students! Today we’re learning 拉 (lā), a very active and useful character meaning 'to pull'. It’s in the HSK Level 4 list, so you’ll see it often in intermediate conversations — from pulling a door open to pulling someone aside for a chat. Notice its radical 扌 (hand), which tells us this is an action done with the hands — just like English verbs such as 'grab', 'push', or 'pull'.
This character has two common pronunciations: lā (most frequent, meaning 'to pull') and lá (used in specific words like 拉肚子 lādùzi — 'to have diarrhea'). Don’t worry — over 95% of the time you’ll use lā. Its stroke count is just 8, and the writing order is logical: start with the hand radical on the left, then the right part ‘立’ (standing), suggesting force applied while upright — a helpful visual cue!
As you practice, remember that 拉 is rarely used alone in speech. It appears in dozens of common compounds and verb-object phrases. For example, 拉手 (lā shǒu) means 'to hold hands', and 拉关系 (lā guānxi) means 'to build connections' — literally 'pull relationships'. These expressions show how deeply physical action metaphors shape Chinese language and culture.
Example Sentences
Common Compounds
Similar Characters — Don't Mix These Up
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