Etymology data from Wiktionary via Wiktextract (CC BY-SA 4.0). Chinese character data from the 說文解字, the Taiwan MOE 國語辭典簡編本 (CC BY-ND 3.0 TW) and HSK/TOCFL lists.

Explanations are written by a local model (gemma4) and only published after a verification pass against the cited sources. How it works.

Chinese

摘

/ʈ͡ʂaɪ̯⁵⁵/

to pluck; to pick (flowers, fruits, leaves etc.)

Phono-semantic compound 形聲
HSK 5
TOCFL 5
radical 手
14 strokes

Etymology graph

inherited
borrowed
derived
parts
meaning component
sound component
related

Press enter or space to select a node. You can then use the arrow keys to move the node around. Press delete to remove it and escape to cancel.

Press enter or space to select an edge. You can then press delete to remove it or escape to cancel.

點擊節點放大 · Click a node to zoom in

Origin

Phono-semantic compound (形聲 /形声, OC *rteːɡ, *tʰeːɡ): semantic 扌 (“hand”) + phonetic 啇 (OC *teːɡ).

From Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.

Lineage

meaningChinese手 “hand (Classifier: 隻／只 m c mn; 雙／双 m mn; 對／对 c)”
soundChinese啇 “to stalk”

Meanings

character

to pluck; to pick (flowers, fruits, leaves etc.)
to take off (glasses, hats, etc)
to select; to choose
to make notes; to mark
to reprimand; to slam; to rebuke

Shuowen Jiezi 說文解字

摘：拓果樹實也。从手啻聲。一曰指近之也。

Xu Shen, c. 100 CE — the first analytical dictionary of Chinese characters.

國語辭典 definitions

採取。例：摘下、採摘、摘花　◎
拿下。類似摘的動作。例：摘帽、摘星、摘烏紗
選取。例：摘錄、尋章摘句
指出、舉發。例：指摘、摘奸發伏
借貸。例：東摘西借

© Ministry of Education, Taiwan — CC BY-ND 3.0 TW, shown unaltered.

How 摘 was written 字形演變

Small seal
說文小篆
Shuowen, c. 100 CE
Regular
楷書
since c. 200 CE

Historical forms collected by the legacy etymfun dataset; most characters have several attested variants.

Sources

Historical glyph forms (zdic.net 字形演变) — Rights unverified
HSK / TOCFL word lists — Facts (levels)
教育部《國語辭典簡編本》 (Taiwan MOE) — CC BY-ND 3.0 TW
說文解字 Shuowen Jiezi (Xu Shen, c. 100 CE) — Public domain
Wiktionary (via Wiktextract / kaikki.org) — CC BY-SA 4.0
Wiktionary: 摘