打捞

• Pinyin: dǎ lāo
• Hanzi breakdown: 打 = 扌+ 丁 (action verb); 捞 = 扌+ 劳 (to fish out)

Meaning

To salvage; to dredge up; to fish out. A verb describing the action of retrieving objects from water.

Used for recovering sunken ships, retrieving drowned victims, cleaning debris from waterways, or metaphorically salvaging something from a bad situation. Often involves specialized equipment.

Examples

1. 救援队连夜打捞落水的汽车，终于找到了失踪的司机。 The rescue team worked through the night to salvage the submerged car and finally found the missing driver.
2. 政府出动大型船只打捞沉船中的文物。 The government deployed large vessels to salvage artifacts from the sunken ship.
3. 他把手机掉进河里了，费了好大劲儿才打捞上来。 He dropped his phone in the river and it took a lot of effort to fish it out.

Usage Guide

Context: maritime, rescue, recovery

Tone: descriptive

Do Say

• 打捞工作进行得很顺利。(The salvage work is going smoothly.)
• 他们打捞出了一艘古代沉船。(They salvaged an ancient sunken ship.)

Don't Say

• 打捞我的心情 (打捞 is for physical objects in water — for salvaging feelings, use metaphorical expressions like 挽救)

Origin & History

Compound of 打 (action verb) + 捞 (to fish out, scoop up). Together meaning to retrieve from water through effort.

Cultural Context

Generation: All ages

Social background: Universal