How to Write 搜 (sōu) — Meaning “to search”

Picture a hand (扌) searching through an old man's (叟) messy room for lost keys. The old man's wrinkled face (叟) reminds you of the sound "sōu," and the hand shows the action of searching.

Start with the left radical 扌 (horizontal, vertical hook, lift), then write the right part 叟. The right side has many horizontal strokes — count carefully: it begins with a left-falling stroke, then vertical, three horizontals, another vertical, two more horizontals, and a right-falling stroke. A common mistake is missing the first left-falling stroke or adding an extra horizontal line.

All three use the hand radical 扌, but their right sides differ: 搜 has 叟 (sǒu), 挨 has 矣 (yǐ), and 挫 has 坐 (zuò). Their meanings are completely different: 搜 means "to search," 挨 means "to lean on" or "to endure," and 挫 means "to defeat" or "to frustrate." Also their pronunciations are different: sōu, āi, cuò.

搜 appears in daily vocabulary like 搜索 (sōu suǒ) meaning "to search online" — for example, using a search engine. It is also used in 搜查 (sōu chá) for police or security searches, and 搜集 (sōu jí) meaning "to collect" information or items. In the digital age, 搜索 is especially common when talking about finding information on the internet.

Common words containing 搜 include: 搜索 (sōu suǒ) — to search or hunt for; 搜查 (sōu chá) — to search or ransack; 搜集 (sōu jí) — to collect or gather.