cāo

to grasp

to hold; to operate; to manage; to control; to steer; to exercise; to drill (practice); to play; to speak (a language)

hand (扌) + phonetic (喿) = grasp, operate, and control

The hand radical anchors every sense of 操: grasping a tool, steering a vessel, drilling troops, or wielding a language. 喿 contributes the sound cāo and does not carry meaning here.

+
A phonetic component pronounced similarly to cāoPhonetic
HandSemantic

他每天早上都去公园练。

tā měi tiān zǎo shang dōu qù gōng yuán cāo liàn。

He goes to the park to drill and practice every morning.

这位工人能熟练地控这台大机器。

zhè wèi gōng rén néng shú liàn de cāo kòng zhè tái dà jī qì。

This worker can skillfully operate and control this large machine.

Words with 操

遥控操作

yáo kòng cāo zuò

remote operation

重操旧业

chóng cāo jiù yè

to resume one's old trade (idiom)

陶冶情操

táo yě qíng cāo

to cultivate one's mind

体操

tǐ cāo

gymnastic

体操运动员

tǐ cāo yùn dòng yuán

gymnast

体操队

tǐ cāo duì

gymnastics team

黑箱操作

hēi xiāng cāo zuò

see 暗箱操作[an4 xiang1 cao1 zuo4]

互操性

hù cāo xìng

interoperability

保健操

bǎo jiàn cāo

health exercises

做操

zuò cāo

to do exercises

健美操

jiàn měi cāo

aerobics

出操

chū cāo

to drill

More characters with 扌