HSK 3.0 Level 3 · Everyday Verbs

扫 sǎo “to sweep” in Chinese

Traditional 掃

What 扫 means

  1. to sweep
  2. to scan (a QR code)
  3. to sweep (with a brush or broom)
  4. to sweep away
  5. to wipe out
More meanings from CC-CEDICT
  • to get rid of
  • to sweep (one’s eyes etc) over
  • to scan

How to say 扫

  • Pitch chart of the third tone: dips low then rises, 2 to 1 to 4 on the five-level scale扫sǎo3rd tone, dipping

扫 in a sentence

  1. 你必须扫地。

    Nǐ bìxū sǎodì.

    You have to sweep the floor.

    Sentence #1749249 from Tatoeba

  2. 我让他扫地了。

    Wǒ ràng tā sǎodì le.

    I made him sweep the floor.

    Sentence #793586 from Tatoeba

  3. 我应该打扫我的房间。

    Wǒ yīnggāi dǎsǎo wǒ de fángjiān.

    I should clean my room.

    Sentence #512911 from Tatoeba

How 扫 is built

Each colour is one part of the character. Parts repeat across thousands of characters, so learning them makes new words easier. See all 214 in our radicals chart.

The character 扫 (sǎo) with each of its parts in a different colour
扫sǎoto sweep
  • 扌hand form of 手 · shǒu
  • 彐snout · jì

Memory aidA hand 扌 holding a broom 彐: to sweep. In the full form 掃 the broom is 帚.

How to write 扫

扫 6 strokes

Watch the order, then press Try writing it and draw each stroke in the grid. Each stroke is checked as you go.

扫 (sǎo) stroke order chart: each stroke of the character in the order you write it
Stroke order chart for 扫 (sǎo). Red marks the next stroke, so you can copy it onto paper one step at a time.

Words related to 扫

Words with 扫

打扫dǎsǎo · to clean

More words: Everyday Verbs

刷shuā · to brush分开fēnkāi · to separate遇见yùjiàn · to meet (by chance)刮guā · to blow (of wind)搬家bānjiā · to move house关机guānjī · to turn off (a device)开机kāijī · to switch on (a device)无法wúfǎ · to be unable to

FAQs

扫 (sǎo) means “to sweep” or “to scan (a QR code)”. It is an HSK 3.0 Level 3 word.
Say it sǎo: sǎo with a 3rd tone. Press Listen at the top of this page to hear it, or Slowly to hear each tone clearly.
In Traditional characters, used in Taiwan and Hong Kong, 扫 is written 掃. The pronunciation is the same.
Add a Chinese (Simplified) pinyin keyboard to your phone or computer, type sao with no tone marks or spaces, then choose 扫 from the suggestions. Typing sao into this dictionary’s search box finds it too.
扫 is an HSK 3.0 Level 3 word in the official 2021 syllabus, and it is on our HSK 3.0 Band 5 word list. It is not on the older HSK 2.0 word lists.

Turn words into conversations

A dictionary gives you the words. A native teacher shows you how to use them. Start with a free 30-minute intro call.

Book a free intro call

Sources: meaning and pinyin checked by a native Mandarin teacher against the official HSK lists. Extra meanings from CC-CEDICT (CC BY-SA 4.0). Example sentences from Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR). Character parts and stroke order from Make Me a Hanzi.