How to Write 扩 (kuò) — Meaning “to expand; to enlarge”

Imagine using your hand (扌) to push open a wide door (广) to expand a room. The sound "kuò" is similar to "quoth" from old English, but you can think "I quote that I need to expand."

Write the left radical 扌 first: horizontal, vertical hook, then lift. Then write 广: dot, horizontal, left-falling stroke. A common mistake is writing the left-falling stroke of 广 before the horizontal – always write the dot first.

扩 uses 广 on the right, meaning broad, so its meaning is to expand. 㧜 is a very rare character with a different right side. 扎 (zhā) has a hook-like shape on the right (乚) and means to pierce or stab, which is visually and semantically quite different from 扩.

扩 appears in common words like 扩大 (expand) and 扩音器 (loudspeaker). It is frequently used in business, politics, and daily life when talking about growth or amplification. In Chinese history, 扩张 (expansion) sometimes carries political connotations related to territorial or economic influence.

Common words containing 扩 include: 扩大 (kuò dà) — to expand; to broaden; to enlarge; 扩音器 (kuò yīn qì) — loudspeaker; megaphone; amplifier; 扩张 (kuò zhāng) — to expand; expansion; to dilate.