套tào

套

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Simplified · Today

简体

Simplified Chinese

Modern simplified form (簡體). 套 (tào, "set, cover, sheath") appears the same in simplified and traditional scripts — its visual logic is immediately clear from the way a large (大) element wraps around something beneath, like a protective covering or sheath. Originally depicting a protective outer layer, it now serves as a versatile measure word for sets and suits in modern Chinese.

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Shuowen

套 (tào). The character combines 宀 (a roof-like cover) with the phonetic element 㤅, depicting something that fits over and protects like a roof shields from above. In its earliest forms on oracle bones, it showed a hand (又) holding a ring or loop that could be slipped onto something, capturing the essential idea of fitting one thing over another. This original sense of a covering or sheath that envelopes an object evolved into the modern meanings of case, cover, set, or series—things that wrap around or come in fitted groups.

Pinyin

tào· HSK 2

套tào

Character evolution

Shuowen

Pinyin