How to Write 洮 (táo) — Meaning “To cleanse; to wash (often used in names)”

Picture a peach (sounds like 'táo') being washed with water (氵) to become clean. The right side 兆 looks like a person raising their arms to scrub, or you can think of 'towel' starting with 'táo'.

When writing 洮, first write the water radical as three strokes: dot, dot, horizontal. Then write 兆: start with a left-falling stroke, then a horizontal line, then two small dots on the left side, and finally a hook stroke on the right side. A common mistake is to confuse the right side with 北 (north) — remember 兆 has a hook instead of a second horizontal.

洮 has the right component 兆 (táo), while 㳄 has the component 欠 (qiàn, meaning 'deficient' or used in 'yawn') and 汧 has 开 (kāi, meaning 'open'). Pronunciation differs: 洮 is táo, 㳄 is xián (saliva), and 汧 is qiān (an ancient river name). Visually, 兆 has two dots on the left and a hook, whereas 欠 has a person-like shape and 开 has two horizontal lines.

Today, 洮 is mainly found in place names, such as the Tao River (洮河) in Gansu province and the historical region Taozhou (洮州). It also appears in the name of the famous Tao inkstone (洮砚), a traditional calligraphy tool. It is rarely used as a verb for washing in everyday speech.

Common words containing 洮 include: 洮河 (táo hé) — Tao River; 洮州 (táo zhōu) — Taozhou (ancient administrative region); 洮砚 (táo yàn) — Tao inkstone.