刨 is also the simplified spelling of 鑤.

刨

Mandarin · pinyin bào#

Meanings · bào

  1. carpenter's plane
  2. to plane (woodwork)
  3. to shave off
  4. to peel (with a potato peeler etc)
Mandarin · pinyin páo#

Meanings · páo

  1. to dig
  2. to excavate
  3. (coll.) to exclude
  4. not to count
  5. to deduct
  6. to subtract
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Characters in this entry

刨
páo · carpenter's plane; plane, level
Written characters and their own readings; the entry’s pronunciation is shown above.

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Mandarin tones

4 · bao4

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Connected dictionary

1character link24same-tone records
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Read this spelling in Classical texts

Follow a written form into the eight pinned witnesses: Analects, Mencius, Laozi, Zhuangzi, Xunzi, Han Feizi, Sunzi and the Mao Shijing. A match is a place to investigate; it does not prove that a modern dictionary sense fits the passage.

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Compare dictionary sources Wiktionary · 6 senses · 1 Cantonese reading

Rime Cantonese 粵拼

paau4

Cantonese word readings for 刨. This lexicon supplies readings, not definitions.

CanCLID contributors · CC BY 4.0 · source & license · Data pack

Wiktionary English definitions · Chinese section

Independent source senses for this spelling, with usage labels retained. Not matched to the pronunciation above.

character · Etymology 1

  1. to dig
  2. (Mandarin, colloquial) to deduct; to take away; to exclude

character · Etymology 2

  1. plane; planer; planing machine
  2. to shave; to plane
  3. (Cantonese, Shanghainese) grater
  4. (Cantonese) to grate

Source page · dump 2026-09-02 · Contributors & history

Wiktionary contributors · CC BY-SA 4.0 · source & license · Data pack

刨 · bao4 · pao2
CC-CEDICT contributors and MDBG · edition 2026-10-13 · source lines 14,027, 14,028
Original dictionary · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Source & transformation details
Exact source records刨 刨 [bao4] /carpenter's plane/to plane (woodwork)/to shave off/to peel (with a potato peeler etc)/刨 刨 [pao2] /to dig/to excavate/(coll.) to exclude/not to count/to deduct/to subtract/