擦

Mandarin · pinyin cā

Meanings

  1. to rub; to scratch
  2. to wipe; to polish
  3. to apply (lipstick, lotion etc)
  4. to brush (past)
  5. to shred (a vegetable etc)
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Characters in this entry

擦
cā · wipe, scrub, rub, scour; brush
Written characters and their own readings; the entry’s pronunciation is shown above.

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Mandarin tones

1 · ca1

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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 · 8 senses · 1 Cantonese reading

Rime Cantonese 粵拼

caat3

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

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Wiktionary English definitions · Chinese section

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

character

  1. to rub
  2. to be close to; to be near
  3. to wipe; to scour; to scrub; to erase
  4. to spread (paste etc.); to apply
  5. to shred (melons and fruits)
  6. (slang, euphemistic) alternative form of 肏 (“to fuck”)
  7. utensil for rubbing, wiping, or scrubbing (e.g., eraser, shoe polish)
  8. (Taiwanese Hokkien) hanging scroll; wall hanging (a scroll that unrolls vertically for hanging on a wall)

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

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