How to Write 拔 (bá) — Meaning “To pull out / to pull up”

Picture a friend (犮, which looks like a person with a big foot) grabbing a weed with their hand (扌) and yanking it out of the ground. The left side is the hand, and the right side helps you recall the forceful pulling motion.

Write the hand radical 扌 first, then the right side 犮. The right part has four strokes: first a horizontal stroke, then a downward stroke with a hook, then two diagonal strokes. A common mistake is to forget the downward hook on the right side, making it look like 友 (friend).

托 (tuō, to hold in the palm) has the same hand radical 扌 but the right side is 乇, which looks like a small plant with a root. In contrast, 拔's right side 犮 has a clear 'dog' or 'friend' shape with a hook, and its meaning involves pulling out, not supporting from below.

You often see 拔 in everyday phrases like 拔牙 (pull a tooth) at the dentist or 拔草 (pull weeds) in the garden. The character also appears in formal contexts like 选拔 (select or recruit), where people are 'pulled out' from a group to fill a position.

Common words containing 拔 include: 拔牙 (bá yá) — To pull a tooth; 拔草 (bá cǎo) — To weed / to pull weeds; 选拔 (xuǎn bá) — To select / To recruit.