Si Collection, Middle Volume
Radical: Claw (zhǎo)
Pao
Kangxi Strokes: 9
Page 689, Entry 02
Comprehensive Collection of Characters (Zihui) states the pronunciation as pao. It is pronounced the same as the character for kitchen (pao). The meaning is to scrape. Examining the character, it is not recorded in various classic texts, and it is suspected to be an erroneous form of the character for to roast (pao). However, the Extended Rhymes (Guangyun), in the commentary for the character to scratch (sao) under the six-hao rhyme category, states: to scrape. Investigating the meaning of to scrape, the character structure should be derived from the radical for claw, and it is surely a commonly used folk variant, which is why it was not included in formal classic texts.