tōu
steal
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小偷偷走了我的钱包。
xiǎotōu tōu zǒu le wǒ de qiánbāo.
The thief stole my wallet.
我怀疑有人偷了我的手机。
wǒ huáiyí yǒu rén tōu le wǒ de shǒujī.
I suspect someone stole my phone.
我们必须小心，不要被偷了。
wǒmen bìxū xiǎoxīn, bùyào bèi tōu le.
We must be careful not to get robbed.
光明正大 (guāng míng zhèng dà)
open and aboveboard
诚实 (chéng shí)
honest
The Chinese character 偷 (tōu) for "steal" is composed of two parts: the radical 歹 (dǎi), which indicates bad or evil, and the phonetic component 偷 (dōu), which represents the sound. The character 偷 first appeared in the oracle bone script during the Shang dynasty (c. 1600–1046 BCE) and has been used ever since to represent the concept of stealing.The radical 歹 (dǎi) is often used in Chinese characters related to negative or harmful actions, such as 坏 (huài, "bad"), 毒 (dú, "poison"), and 害 (hài, "harm"). The phonetic component 偷 (dōu) is a simplified form of the character 豆 (dòu, "bean"), which was used in ancient times to represent the sound [dōu].The combination of the radical 歹 and the phonetic component 偷 creates the character 偷 (tōu), which represents the concept of stealing. The character 偷 is used in a variety of contexts to refer to the act of taking something without permission, including stealing money, stealing goods, and stealing information.
