What does 拿 mean in Chinese?

拿 (ná) means "take" in Chinese. The new HSK exam expects you to recognise it at HSK 2.

How do you write 拿?

拿 is written with 10 strokes, starting from the 手 (hand) radical and following standard Chinese stroke order (top to bottom, left to right). See the interactive stroke-order tool for the full animation.

What is the radical of 拿?

The radical of 拿 is 手 (hand, Kangxi radical #64). Other common HSK characters using the same radical include 手.

How many strokes does 拿 have?

The Chinese character 拿 has 10 strokes.

What HSK level is 拿?

On the new HSK exam syllabus, 拿 is a character to recognise at HSK 2.

拿 (ná): Meaning, Stroke Order, Radical & Examples

拿

ná

take

HSK 2 character 10 strokes Radical: 手 (hand)

Quick Answer

拿 (ná) means "take" with 10 strokes, radical 手 (hand), HSK 2 on the new exam.

Full dictionary entry for 拿 →Animated stroke-order for 拿 →

Pronunciation

ná

Meaning

Primary: take

Etymology

Oracle-bone origin

拿 has no ancient pictographic origin and is a relatively late character formed by stacking 合 (hé, to close together) above 手 (hand). The composition is semantic rather than phono-semantic: two hands closing around something, which is literally what 拿 depicts in meaning. It is a variant form of the older 拏, which used 奴 as the phonetic.

Form evolution

The older orthography 拏 (扌 plus 奴) appears from the Han dynasty and remained standard through the Tang. The modern form 拿, with 合 over 手, emerged as a vernacular variant during the Ming and was accepted as the standard graph by the Qing. Simplified Chinese retains 拿, while traditional Chinese accepts both 拿 and 拏, though 拿 is now overwhelmingly more common.

How the meaning evolved

The original sense of 拏 was to seize or grab, often with force, and this survives in legal and classical language (拏獲 to apprehend). The modern form 拿 shifted towards the neutral sense of taking or holding in the hand, as in 拿書 (pick up a book) or 拿筷子 (hold chopsticks). It now covers both physical holding and figurative grasp, as in 拿主意 (make up one's mind).

Cultural note

The choice of 合 over 手 in the modern graph is a rare case of Chinese script becoming more iconically transparent over time rather than less: the image of a hand closing is clearer in 拿 than in the older 拏. Learners sometimes confuse 拿 with 手 or 打, but only 拿 implies taking hold of a specific object.