Dictionary › 刮

刮

guā

Old HSK 3 HSK 3.0 character level 3 Character

刮 (guā) means "to blow (of wind); to scrape". It is an HSK 3.0 level 3 word, and was HSK 3 in the old six-level list.

What 刮 means

1. to scrape
2. to blow
3. to shave
4. to plunder
5. to extort

Other readings

刮 is 多音字 — it is read more than one way, and the reading changes the meaning.

• guāto blow (of the wind)

Example sentences

• 刮脸吗？
  Guāliǎn ma?
  Did you shave?
• 刮的是北风。
  A north wind is blowing.
• 今天刮冷风。
  The wind is cold today.
• 我得刮胡子。
  I need to shave.
• 请刮一下胡子。
  A shave, please.
• 他每天刮胡子。
  He shaves himself every day.

Words starting with 刮

• 刮目相看guā mù xiāng kànto have a whole new level of respect for sb or sth…
• 刮风guā fēngto be windy
• 刮胡子guā hú zito shave
• 刮伤guā shāngscratch (wound); scratch (damage to an object)
• 刮刀guā dāospatula; scraper
• 刮掉guā diàoto scrape off; to shave off (whiskers etc); (of the wind) to blow sth away
• 刮擦guā cāto scrape
• 刮脸guā liǎnto shave one's face
• 刮铲guā chǎnscraper
• 刮刮卡guā guā kǎlottery scratchcard
• 刮刮乐guā guā lèscratch-and-win lottery
• 刮皮刀guā pí dāopeeler; potato peeler
• 刮胡刀guā hú dāorazor
• 刮勺guā sháoscraper; trowel; putty knife
• 刮蹭guā cèngto scrape one's car against sth; to sideswipe
• 刮痧guā shāgua sha (technique in TCM)
• 刮刮叫guā guā jiàovariant of 呱呱叫
• 刮目相待guā mù xiāng dàisee 刮目相看

Words containing 刮

• 搜刮sōu guāto rake in (money); to plunder; to milk people dry
• 雨刮yǔ guāwindshield wiper
• 耳刮子ěr guā zi(colloquial) a slap on the side of the head
• 雨刮器yǔ guā qìwindshield wiper
• 搜肠刮肚sōu cháng guā dùto search one's guts and belly (idiom); to racks one's brains for a solution
• 顶刮刮dǐng guā guāvariant of 顶呱呱

Characters built on 舌

These share the phonetic component 舌 (shé), which is why their readings rhyme. Learning them as a family is far cheaper than learning them one at a time.

• 话huàdialect; language; spoken words
• 栝guāJuniperus chinensis; measuring-frame
• 鸹guāused in 老鸹

Characters that look like 刮

Easy to confuse on sight. Compare them side by side once and the pair stops costing you.

• 利lìsharp; favorable; advantage
• 浏liúclear; deep (of water); swift
• 刺cìthorn; sting; thrust
• 剃tìto shave
• 剌làperverse; unreasonable; absurd
• 钊zhāoto encourage; to cut; to strain

Sounds the same

Read guā, tone for tone, but written differently.

• 瓜melon; gourd; squash; (slang) a piece of gossip
• 呱used in 呱呱
• 胍guanidine
• 栝Juniperus chinensis; measuring-frame
• 鸹used in 老鸹
• 劀(archaic) to scrape away decayed flesh or pus
• 筈arrow end
• 䯄piebald horse

Where 刮 is taught

In the GraphChinese course it is part of Seasons, Weather & Time Words (HSK 3), HSK 3 Characters · Set 38 (HSK 3), each one a topic in the dependency graph of HSK 1–6 that opens only once its prerequisites are solid.

Go deeper

• Every HSK 3 word, with the rest of its level.
• How characters are built from components.
• How to learn Chinese characters.
• The four tones and the neutral tone, to read guā correctly.
• Look up another word in the free dictionary.