Dictionary › 爬

爬

pá

Old HSK 3 HSK 3.0 character level 3 Character

爬 (pá) means "to crawl; to climb; to get up or sit up". It is an HSK 3.0 level 3 word, and was HSK 3 in the old six-level list.

What 爬 means

1. to crawl
2. to climb
3. to get up or sit up

Example sentences

• 我爬山。
  I climb mountains.
• 熊会爬树。
  Bears can climb trees.
• 汤姆在爬树。
  Tom is climbing a tree.
• 他爬上了楼梯。
  Tā páshàng le lóutī.
  He climbed the stairs.
• 我要去爬北岳。
  Wǒ yào qù pá Běiyuè.
  I'm going to climb Mt. Kitadake.
• 猴子爬上了树。
  The monkey climbed up a tree.

Words starting with 爬

• 爬山pá shānto go for a hike (esp. in the hills or mountains)
• 爬上pá shàngto climb up
• 爬行pá xíngto crawl; to creep
• 爬坡pá pōto climb a slope; to go uphill
• 爬升pá shēngto rise; to ascend; to climb (airplane etc)
• 爬泳pá yǒng(swimming) the crawl (front crawl stroke)
• 爬灰pá huīincest between father-in-law and daughter-in-law; also written 扒灰
• 爬墙pá qiángto climb a wall; (fig.) to be unfaithful
• 爬虫pá chóngreptile; (Internet) web crawler
• 爬山虎pá shān hǔBoston ivy or Japanese creeper (Parthenocissus tricuspidata)
• 爬格子pá gé zi(oral) to write (esp. for a living); to spell out laboriously on squared paper
• 爬虫类pá chóng lèireptiles; also written 爬行类
• 爬行类pá xíng lèireptiles; also written 爬行动物
• 爬山涉水pá shān shè shuǐto climb mountains and wade rivers (idiom); fig. to make a long and difficult journey
• 爬虫动物pá chóng dòng wùreptile
• 爬行动物pá xíng dòng wùreptile
• 爬虾pá xiāmantis shrimp
• 爬梳pá shūto comb through (historical documents etc); to unravel
• 爬犁pá lísledge
• 爬竿pá gānpole-climbing (as gymnastics or circus act); climbing pole

Words containing 爬

• 摸爬滚打mō pá gǔn dǎto go through challenging experiences; to become seasoned (in one's profession etc)
• 连滚带爬lián gǔn dài pá(idiom) stumbling and crawling; scrambling; frantically trying to escape
• 狗爬式gǒu pá shìdog paddle (swimming style); doggy style (sex position)
• 草爬子cǎo pá zitick (zoology)
• 跌跌爬爬diē diē pá pástumbling along
• 攀爬pān páto climb
• 虾爬子xiā pá zimantis shrimp
• 吃里爬外chī lǐ pá wàivariant of 吃里扒外
• 人往高处爬，水往低处流rén wǎng gāo chù pá , shuǐ wǎng dī chù liúsee 人往高處走，人往高处走，水往低处流

Characters built on 巴

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

• 吧ba(modal particle indicating suggestion or surmise); ...right?; ...OK?
• 把bǎto hold; to grasp; to hold a baby in position to help it urinate or defecate; handlebar
• 爸bàfather; dad; pa
• 芭bāan unidentified fragrant plant mentioned in the Songs of Chu 楚辞; used in 芭蕉…
• 疤bāscar; scab
• 靶bǎtarget; mark
• 笆bāan article made of bamboo strips; fence
• 琶pásee 琵琶, pipa lute

Characters that look like 爬

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

• 段duànparagraph; section; segment
• 待dàito wait; to treat; to deal with
• 珊shāncoral
• 胀zhàngto swell; to distend; to expand; swollen; bloated
• 拷kǎoto beat; to flog; to examine under torture
• 挠náoto scratch; to thwart; to yield

Sounds the same

Read pá, tone for tone, but written differently.

• 扒to rake up; to steal; to braise
• 耙a rake
• 筢bamboo rake
• 跁to squat; crouch
• 杷used in 枇杷
• 琶see 琵琶, pipa lute
• 掱variant of 扒
• 钯old variant of 耙

Where 爬 is taught

In the GraphChinese course it is part of HSK 3 Characters · Set 35 (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 pá correctly.
• Look up another word in the free dictionary.