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打捞 (dǎ lāo) — to salvage, to dredge, to fish out (from water)

Definition

打捞 specifically means recovering objects or people from water (salvaging shipwrecks, pulling items off the seabed). Unlike 挽回 ('salvage' abstract things like reputation or loss), 打捞 stays physical and aquatic.

verb
to salvageto dredgeto fish out (from water)

Examples

  • 打捞。
    Tā men zhèng zài dǎ lāo chén chuán shàng de huò wù.
    They are salvaging the cargo from the sunken ship.
  • 打捞。
    Qián shuǐ yuán cóng hé lǐ dǎ lāo shàng lái yí gè luò shuǐ de rén.
    The diver fished a drowning person out of the river.
  • 打捞。
    Zhèng fǔ pài chuán qù dǎ lāo hǎi dǐ de wén wù.
    The government sent ships to salvage cultural relics from the seabed.

Origin

Compound word
构词法gòucífǎ
联合liánhéCoordinate

Two parts of equal weight, alike or opposite in meaning, standing side by side.

打dǎfish
捞lāofish out

打 (fish) and 捞 (fish out) together describe retrieving things from water.

Characters in this word

Most characters — around four in five — are built this way: one part hints at the meaning, the other at the pronunciation.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
扌Written in full as手shǒuhand
Sound part声符shēngfú
丁
丁dīng打dǎ
The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

打 uses 扌, a hand, to show an action done with the hand, and 丁 to give the sound.

Open 打 →

Most characters — around four in five — are built this way: one part hints at the meaning, the other at the pronunciation.

This origin belongs to the traditional form 撈; 捞 is its simplified writing.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
扌Written in full as手shǒuhand
Sound part声符shēngfú
勞
勞láo撈lāo
Same sound today

The traditional form 撈 has 扌, a hand, and 勞 for sound; the simplified 捞 is a later shorthand.

Open 捞 →
Appears in
HSK 3.0 Level 7-9

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