How to Write 杓 (biāo) — Meaning “ladle”

Imagine a wooden (木) spoon (勺) that you use to scoop soup — that spoon is a ladle, 杓. The right side 勺 looks like a spoon with a little handle, so picture wood plus spoon equals ladle.

Write the left radical 木 first with three strokes: horizontal, vertical, then left-falling and right-falling strokes. Then add the right part 勺 starting with a left-falling stroke, horizontal hook, and a dot inside the hook; keep the right side narrow so the character looks balanced.

未 and 末 have the same components but different stroke placement: 未 (wèi, not yet) has a shorter top horizontal; 末 (mò, end) has a longer top horizontal. In contrast, 杓 contains the spoon component 勺 on the right, so it looks very different from those two. Always check the right side: 杓 has a dot inside a hook, while 未 and 末 do not.

杓 is used in words like 杓子 (ladle) and 水杓 (water ladle) for scooping water or soup. It often appears in rural or traditional kitchen settings, especially for wooden or metal ladles. While not common in daily conversation for everyone, it is still used in some dialects and cooking contexts.

Common words containing 杓 include: 杓子 (biāo zi) — ladle; 水杓 (shuǐ biāo) — Water ladle; 木杓 (mù biāo) — wooden ladle.