搞 (gǎo): to do, to make, to go in for
搞 (gǎo) is a Chinese character meaning “to do.” Classified as HSK Level 5 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of 扌 (semantic) and 高 (phonetic). It ranks #1144 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).
Etymologically derived, 搞 hand. Its radical form 扌 (hand) appears in many related characters such as 手 (shǒu, hand), 打 (dǎ, hit, make), 找 (zhǎo, to look for).
Definitions
- to do
- to make
- to go in for
Etymology & Origin
Stroke Order
Practice writing 搞 with real-time feedback — trace each stroke in the correct order and build muscle memory in the HanziFeed app.
Words & Compounds
Common Compounds
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 搞鬼 | gǎo guǐ | to make mischief |
| 搞好 | gǎo hǎo | to do well at |
| 搞头 | gǎo tou | (coll.) likelihood of being worthwhile |
| 搞活 | gǎo huó | to enliven |
| 怎么搞的 | zěn me gǎo de | How did it happen? |
| 搞不好 | gǎo bu hǎo | (coll.) maybe |
| 有搞头 | yǒu gǎo tou | (coll.) worthwhile |
| 没搞头 | méi gǎo tou | (coll.) not worth bothering with |
| 搞花样儿 | gǎo huā yàng r | erhua variant of 搞花樣|搞花样[gao3 hua1 yang4] |
| 乱搞男女关系 | luàn gǎo nán nǚ guān xì | to be promiscuous |
| 搞花样 | gǎo huā yàng | to play tricks |
| 搞定 | gǎo dìng | to fix |
| 恶搞文化 | è gǎo wén huà | spoofing culture (Web-based genre in PRC acquiring cult status from 2005, involving humorous, satirical or fantastica... |
| 搞笑片 | gǎo xiào piàn | comedy film |
| 搞通 | gǎo tōng | to make sense of sth |
搞 appears in 31 compound words: 68 as the first character, 16 as the last, and 16 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 搞 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.
Idioms & Chengyu (1)
Example Sentences
他搞起袖子，开始认真地打扫房间。
tā gǎo qǐ xiù zǐ , kāi shǐ rèn zhēn dì dǎ sǎo fáng jiān .
He rolled up his sleeves and began cleaning the room thoroughly.
中职/赵娟周续留统一狮应援 新成员培根搞笑反差吸睛
zhōng zhí zhào 娟 zhōu xù liú tǒng yī shī yīng yuán xīn chéng yuán péi gēn gǎo xiào fǎn chā xī jīng
Chinese Vocational School/Zhao Juanzhou continues to stay in the United Lions to support the new member Bacon, the funny contrast is eye-catching
...醉非礼 幸黄树棠出拳相救:佢话𡃁妹你都搞
. . . zuì fēi lǐ xìng huáng shù 棠 chū quán xiāng jiù : 佢 huà mèi nǐ dōu gǎo
... Drunk and indecent, fortunately, Huang Shutang punched to save him: he said you can do it too
...听众不满未有派消费券 陈茂波:多办盛事“搞旺个场”长远更具效益
. . . tīng zhòng bù mǎn wèi yǒu pài xiāo fèi quàn chén mào bō : duō bàn shèng shì gǎo wàng gè chǎng cháng yuǎn gēng jù xiào yì
... The audience was dissatisfied with the lack of consumption vouchers Chen Maobo: Holding more mega events to "make the venue prosperous" is more effective in the long run
...慧成春训首秀灌3打点!皮肤好到球迷羡慕 搞笑曝护肤祕诀
. . . huì chéng chūn xùn shǒu xiù guàn 3 dǎ diǎn ! pí fū hǎo dào qiú mí xiàn mù gǎo xiào pù hù fū 祕 jué
... Huicheng made his spring training debut with 3 RBIs! The skin is so good that fans envy it and reveal skin care secrets in a funny way
游欧吃素很难搞?奥客刁难导游被骂翻 达人曝:“这几国”...
yóu ōu chī sù hěn nán gǎo ? ào kè diāo nán dǎo yóu bèi mà fān dá rén pù : zhè jī guó . . .
Is it difficult to travel to Europe and be a vegetarian? The tour guide was scolded and overturned, and the expert revealed: "These countries"...
你搞得定吗？如果你愿意的话，我可以帮你。
Nǐ gǎo de dìng ma? rúguǒ nǐ yuànyì dehuà, wǒ kěyǐ bāng nǐ.
Can you do it yourself? If you want, I can help you.
你是怎么搞到这笔钱的？
Nǐ shì zěnme gǎo dào zhè bǐ qián de?
How did you come by the money?
这下搞得你今天累死了！
Zhè xià gǎo de nǐ jīntiān lèi sǐ le!
You've tired yourself out today!
他们互帮互助，把校庆搞得很成功。
Tāmen hùbāng hùzhù, bǎ xiàoqìng gǎo de hěn chénggōng.
They helped one another to make the school festival a success.
Character Family
Frequently Asked Questions
What does 搞 (gǎo) mean in Chinese?
What's the difference between 搞 and 来?
How many strokes does 搞 have?
What is the radical of 搞?
What are the components of 搞?
What are common words containing 搞?
What characters sound the same as 搞 (gǎo)?
Is 搞 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Practice writing 搞 with real-time feedback
Trace stroke sequences, hear native pronunciation, and build lasting retention with spaced repetition in the HanziFeed app.