钞 (chāo): banknote

钞 (chāo) is a Chinese character meaning “banknote.” Classified as HSK Level 7-9 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of 钅 (semantic) and 少 (phonetic). It ranks #2523 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Etymologically derived, 钞 money. Its radical form 钅 (metal) appears in many related characters such as 钱 (qián, money), 错 (cuò, wrong, mistake), 钟 (zhōng, clock, bell).

Spoken pronunciation

Definitions

  1. banknote

Etymology & Origin

钞

pictophoneticmoney

Decomposition: ⿰钅少 (layout: left-right)

Stroke Order

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9

Practice writing 钞 with real-time feedback — trace each stroke in the correct order and build muscle memory in the HanziFeed app.

Words & Compounds

Common Compounds

WordPinyinMeaning
钞票nounchāo piàopaper money
运钞车nounyùn chāo chēarmored car (for transporting valuables)
假钞nounjiǎ chāocounterfeit money
伪钞nounwěi chāocounterfeit currency
美钞nounměi chāoUS dollar bill
验钞机nounyàn chāo jīa device used to check money and detect counterfeit bills
钞能力nounchāo néng lì(coll.) wealth
印钞机nounyìn chāo jīmoney printer
验钞器yàn chāo qìmoney counter and counterfeit detection machine
纪念钞jì niàn chāocommemorative banknote
钱钞nounqián chāomoney
破钞pò chāoto spend money
纸钞nounzhǐ chāobanknote
冥钞nounmíng chāofalse paper money burned as an offering to the dead
14
Total compounds
14
As first character
57
As last character
29
As middle character

钞 appears in 14 compound words: 14 as the first character, 57 as the last, and 29 in a middle position. Compound statistics computed from SUBTLEX-CH and HSK 3.0 vocabulary data.

Strongest Collocations

Characters that most frequently co-occur with 钞 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.

玻bō
0.65613 co-occurrences
坠zhuì
0.61816 co-occurrences
毁huǐ
0.56912 co-occurrences
诗shī
0.500730 co-occurrences
票piào
0.4861,786 co-occurrences
维wéi
0.47615 co-occurrences
纸zhǐ
0.473320 co-occurrences
兑duì
0.46482 co-occurrences
死sǐ
0.44916 co-occurrences
赐cì
0.445180 co-occurrences

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

现在很少人用钞票了,大多数人都用手机支付。

Xiànzài hěn shǎo rén yòng chāopiào le, dàduōshù rén dōu yòng shǒujī zhīfù.

Few people use banknotes now; most people use mobile payments.

Am730Mar 2026

...朗面包10万一块 急发1000万元面额新钞

. . . lǎng miàn bāo 1 0 wàn yī kuài jí fā 1 0 0 0 wàn yuán miàn é xīn chāo

...Lang Bread sells for 100,000 yuan a loaf; 10 million yuan in new banknotes to be issued urgently

鉅亨網 - 財經新聞、全球指數、股市報價、商品行情、理財投資Mar 2026

...出恶性通膨!伊朗发行面额“1000万”新钞 换算只值7美元

. . . chū è xìng tōng péng ! yī lǎng fā háng miàn é 1 0 0 0 wàn xīn chāo huàn suàn zhī zhí 7 měi yuán

...Hyperinflation! Iran Issues New "10 Million" Banknote Worth Only $7

TvbsFeb 2026

C-130载新钞坠! 玻利维亚空难15死 目击者忙捡钱遭...

C 1 3 0 zài xīn chāo zhuì ! bō lì wéi yà kōng nán 1 5 sǐ mù jī zhě máng jiǎn qián zāo . . .

C-130 loaded with new banknotes! 15 people died in a Bolivia air crash, and witnesses were busy picking up money...

Hk01.comFeb 2026

玻利维亚运钞军机坠毁15死多人伤 民众拾钱遭驱散|有...

bō lì wéi yà yùn chāo jūn jī zhuì huǐ 1 5 sǐ duō rén shāng mín zhòng shè qián zāo qū sàn yǒu . . .

Bolivia's banknote transport military plane crashed, killing 15 people and injuring many people.

UdnnewsindexFeb 2026

影/玻利维亚运新钞军机坠毁至少15死 镇暴警察出动阻止民众...

yǐng bō lì wéi yà yùn xīn chāo jūn jī zhuì huǐ zhì shǎo 1 5 sǐ zhèn bào jǐng chá chū dòng zǔ zhǐ mín zhòng . . .

Shadow/Bolivia's military plane crashed with at least 15 people, riot police dispatched to stop people...

Tatoeba

我经常用信用卡,而不是钞票。

Wǒ jīngcháng yòng xìnyòngkǎ, ér bù shì chāopiào.

I usually use a credit card instead of cash.

Tatoeba

这张钞票是假造的。

Zhè zhāng chāopiào shì jiǎzào de.

This is a forged banknote.

Tatoeba

这个小婴孩撕掉了一张十美元的钞票。

Zhège xiǎo yīnghái sīdiào le yī zhāng shí Měiyuán de chāopiào.

The baby tore up a ten-dollar bill.

Character Family

Semantic Family — Characters sharing the 钅 (money) component

Homophones — Characters pronounced chāo

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 钞 (chāo) mean in Chinese?
钞 (chāo) primarily means "banknote." It is classified as HSK Level 7-9, making it an expert-level character. It ranks #2523 in character frequency.
What's the difference between 钞 and 省?
钞 (chāo) and 省 (shěng) are often confused. confusable. The key distinguishing feature: 钅 vs 目 (same 少 component).
How many strokes does 钞 have?
钞 is written with 9 strokes. The correct stroke order matters for recognition and handwriting speed — practice with the animated guide above to build proper technique.
What is the radical of 钞?
The radical associated with 钞 is 钅 (metal). This radical appears in many characters related to metal.
What are the components of 钞?
钞 is composed of: 钅 (semantic), 少 (phonetic). Its IDS decomposition is ⿰钅少 with a left-right layout. Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.
What are common words containing 钞?
Common words with 钞 include: 钞票 (chāo piào, "paper money"); 运钞车 (yùn chāo chē, "armored car (for transporting valuables)"); 假钞 (jiǎ chāo, "counterfeit money"); 伪钞 (wěi chāo, "counterfeit currency"); 美钞 (měi chāo, "US dollar bill"). There are over 14 compound words containing this character.
What characters sound the same as 钞 (chāo)?
Several characters share the pronunciation chāo: 吵 (to quarrel), 抄 (to make a copy), 炒 (to stir-fry), 超 (to exceed), and 1 more. Context and tones help distinguish between them in speech and writing.
Is 钞 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
No. The simplified form is 钞 and the traditional form is 鈔.

Practice writing 钞 with real-time feedback

Trace stroke sequences, hear spoken pronunciation, and build lasting retention with spaced repetition in the HanziFeed app.

Character data sourced from Unihan (Unicode Consortium), SUBTLEX-CH frequency corpus (Cai & Brysbaert, 2010), and Make Me a Hanzi (stroke data). Collocation strength measured via NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information). Verified by the HanziFeed linguistics team.

HSK classification follows the HSK 3.0 Standard (Center for Language Education and Cooperation, CLEC, 2022 revision). Idiom data from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 3.0).

Data last verified: March 2026.