揠 (yà) - To pull up & to uproot

揠Tone 4

yà ｜ 12 strokes ｜ radical:

信嫣

揠 · yà

To pull up;

to uproot;

to pull out by the roots.

To pull upto uprootto pull out by the roots.

Usage highlights

Pulling up seedlings to help them growPulling up weedsPulling up seedlingsUprooting treesPulling out by force

Synonyms

  • 拔— to pull out; to uproot
  • 拽— to pull; to tug

Antonyms

  • 植— to plant; to grow
  • 种— to plant; to sow

Usage & contexts

Examples

  • The farmer pulled up weeds (揠苗).
  • He tried to help by pulling up the seedlings (揠苗助长).
  • Ancient texts describe pulling up plants (揠草).

Collocations

  • Pulling up seedlings to help them grow(揠苗助长)
  • Pulling up weeds(揠草)
  • Pulling up seedlings(揠苗)
  • Uprooting trees(揠树)
  • Pulling out by force(强揠)

Idioms

  • Pulling up seedlings to help them grow(揠苗助长)
  • Forced extraction(强揠硬拔)

Cultural background

FAQ
  • Most famous from the idiom 揠苗助长 (yà miáo zhù zhǎng), meaning 'to pull up seedlings to help them grow', which illustrates the danger of being overeager and disrupting natural processes.
  • The character appears in classical Chinese texts, particularly in philosophical contexts warning against unnatural interference.
  • While the character exists in modern dictionaries, it is rarely used outside of the fixed idiom 揠苗助长.

FAQ