chāo

money

paper money; variant of 抄[chao1]

metal (钅) + sound chāo (少) = paper money

The metal radical ties 钞 to currency and material wealth. 少 mainly lends its pronunciation; historically, paper money was a stand-in for metal coins, so the metal root still makes intuitive sense.

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FewPhonetic
MetalSemantic

他口袋里有几张票。

tā kǒu dai lǐ yǒu jǐ zhāng chāo piào。

He has a few banknotes in his pocket.

这里只收现,不能刷卡。

zhè lǐ zhǐ shōu xiàn chāo,bù néng shuā kǎ。

This place only accepts cash, you cannot pay by card.

Words with 钞

纪念钞

jì niàn chāo

commemorative banknote

运钞车

yùn chāo chē

armored car (for transporting valuables)

钞票

chāo piào

paper money

钞能力

chāo néng lì

(coll.) wealth; financial clout (pun on 超能力[chao1 neng2 li4])

钱钞

qián chāo

money

验钞器

yàn chāo qì

money counter and counterfeit detection machine

验钞机

yàn chāo jī

a device used to check money and detect counterfeit bills

假钞

jiǎ chāo

counterfeit money

伪钞

wěi chāo

counterfeit currency

冥钞

míng chāo

false paper money burned as an offering to the dead

印钞机

yìn chāo jī

money printer

破钞

pò chāo

to spend money

More characters with 钅