(lā) - to pull, to drag; to play (string instruments) in Mandarin
lāTraditional: 拉
Translation
to pull, to drag; to play (string instruments)
Word origin
拉 means to pull or drag, and to play a bowed instrument. It is a phono-semantic compound with the 扌 'hand' radical and the phonetic 立 (lì).
- Origin
- phono-semantic compound
- Root
- 扌 (hand radical) + 立 (lì, phonetic)
Stroke order
拉
Examples
。
He pulled me aside to talk.
绳。
Please pull that rope.
。
Please help me pull this door.
绳。
He pulled the rope hard.
。
He took my hand and crossed the road.
拉 (lā) primarily means to pull or drag, contrasting with 推 (tuī, to push). It covers pulling something towards oneself (拉门, pull a door), dragging someone along (拉走, drag away), and playing string or bow instruments (拉小提琴, play violin; 拉二胡, play erhu). In colloquial speech 拉 can mean to have diarrhoea (腹泻/拉肚子). The compound 拉近 (to bring closer) is used both literally and figuratively.
Where this fits
Appears in 1 word
Multi-character compounds in the corpus that contain 拉.
Used in
Grammar articles
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拉: worksheet, infographic and listicle
Free printable study downloads for the Mandarin word "拉" (to pull, to drag; to play (string instruments)): a worksheet with the answer key built in, an infographic, and a sentence listicle. Open any one to view, print or save.
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Start your free weekThis word is part of lesson 12.