Chinese word

踏

Pronunciation

Pinyintà

Meaning

  • verbstep on

Example

我不小心踏到你的脚了。wǒ bù xiǎo xīn tà dào nǐ de jiǎo le

I accidentally stepped on your foot.

Illustration for 踏 (step on)

More examples

她第一次踏入大学校园，心里很激动。tā dì yí cì tà rù dà xué xiào yuán xīn lǐ hěn jī dòng

She stepped into the university campus for the first time and was very excited.

Core concept

A foot comes down onto a surface and bears weight there, either lightly or with force.

Common phrases

  • 踏入tà rù

    step into

  • 踏进tà jìn

    step into

  • 踏错tà cuò

    misstep

Similar words

踩cǎi: Pushing down on something from above with the foot.
践踏jiàn tà: Stamping on something forcefully until it is damaged or crushed.

Definition in Chinese

用脚接触并把重量放在物体或地面上，表示踩下或踏过的动作。yòng jiǎo jiē chù bìng bǎ zhòng liàng fàng zài wù tǐ huò dì miàn shàng biǎo shì cǎi xià huò tà guò de dòng zuò

Word origin

踏 (tà, "step on") is a semantic-phonetic character made from 足 (zú, "foot"), which signals the action, and 沓 (tà, "overlapping"), which mainly supplies the sound.

Usage tips

  • In sentences about accidental contact, a following 到 (dào, "reach") marks the point reached, so the structure separates the action from the place where the foot lands.

Other meanings

  • trampleverb

Opposites

  • 抬起tái qǐliftverb

Related words

  • 踏进tà jìnstep intoverb
  • 踏板tà bǎnpedalnoun

Word lists with this word