关店前用扫把和畚斗打扫店里

What does 畚斗 (běndǒu) mean in Chinese?

畚斗 (běndǒu) is the Chinese word for a dustpan. It is rarely taught in beginner courses, yet it appears in every home and workplace. The characters are distinctive: 畚 (běn) is an old word for a basket or scoop woven from plant materials, and 斗 (dǒu) is a container or measure. Together they name the flat-backed scooping tool you pair with a broom. The common pairing is 扫把和畚斗 (sàobǎ hé běndǒu) — broom and dustpan — always mentioned together, almost like a couple.

The clip treats the pairing as exactly that: the speaker finds the dustpan hiding in a different corner from the broom and jokes that separating them is like breaking up a couple — 这个做法就像是把情侣拆开 (“this practice is like splitting up a couple”). The mismatch between a serious everyday chore and the romantic framing is what makes the moment memorable. Note that some regions use 簸箕 (bòji) for dustpan instead; 畚斗 is more common in southern China and Taiwan. Both are worth knowing.