(sāo): disturb, coquettish

(sāo) is a Chinese character meaning “disturb, coquettish.” Classified as HSK Level 7-9 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of (structural) and (structural). It ranks #2182 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Etymologically derived, a flea 蚤 biting a horse 马; 蚤 also provides the pronunciation. Its radical form (horse) appears in many related characters such as (, horse), (, to ride), (yàn, to test, to verify).

Native pronunciation

Definitions

  1. disturb, coquettish

Etymology & Origin

ideographicA flea 蚤 biting a horse 马; 蚤 also provides the pronunciation

Decomposition: ⿰马蚤 (layout: left-right)

Stroke Order

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12

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

Words & Compounds

Common Compounds

WordPinyinMeaning
sāo rǎoto disturb
xìng sāo rǎosexual harassment
sāo luàndisturbance
fā láo sāoto whine
sāo dòngdisturbance
fēng sāoliterary excellence
láo sāodiscontent
ná sāoNassau, capital of The Bahamas
mǎn fù láo sāolit. belly full of complaints (idiom)
dú lǐng fēng sāomost outstanding
sāo kè(literary) poet
sāo luàn zhěa rioter
fā sāohorny
sāo ránturbulent
sāo qíngfrivolous
31
Total compounds
55
As first character
35
As last character
10
As middle character

appears in 31 compound words: 55 as the first character, 35 as the last, and 10 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 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.

rǎo
0.76415,393 co-occurrences
luàn
0.70816,488 co-occurrences
0.5005,250 co-occurrences
huā
0.465138 co-occurrences
láo
0.460652 co-occurrences
xuān
0.438144 co-occurrences
mēn
0.42796 co-occurrences
dòng
0.3803,744 co-occurrences
yóu
0.373402 co-occurrences
0.36984 co-occurrences

Idioms & Chengyu (2)

dúlǐngfēngsāoHSK 7+

to be outstanding and peerless (in a particular area)

phrase
mǎn fù láo sāoHSK 7+

lit. belly full of complaints (idiom); discontent; always moaning and complaining

phrase

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

他的行为引起了动,大家议论纷纷。

Tā de xíngwéi yǐnqǐ le sāodòng, dàjiā yìlùn fēnfēn.

His behavior caused a commotion; everyone was discussing it.

NewsFeb 2026

赵露思传执刘亦菲二摊 懒理是非香肩卖萌

zhào lù sī chuán zhí liú yì 菲 èr tān lǎn lǐ shì fēi sāo xiāng jiān mài méng

Zhao Lusi passed on Liu Yifei's second stall and was lazy to deal with right and wrong

NewsFeb 2026

刘颖镟谭旻萱米兰出招抢镜 谷爱凌转战时装获全场掌声道贺

liú yǐng 镟 谭 旻 萱 mǐ lán chū zhāo qiǎng jìng gǔ ài líng zhuǎn zhàn shí zhuāng sāo huò quán chǎng zhǎng shēng dào hè

Liu Yingtuan and Tan Minxuan made a move in Milan to steal the spotlight, and Gu Ailing moved to the fashion show and won applause and congratulations from the audience

NewsFeb 2026

尹光为5月积极备战 玛姬预告回归乐坛 环星娱乐开市...

尹 guāng wéi yuè sāo jī jí bèi zhàn 玛 姬 yù gào huí guī lè tán huán xīng yú lè kāi shì . . .

Yin Guang is actively preparing for the May riot, Maggie previews her return to the music scene, and Huanxing Entertainment opens the market...

NewsFeb 2026

墨西哥贩毒集团头目被杀引发乱 总统辛鲍姆指现时局势趋平静

mò xī gē fàn dú jí tuán tóu mù bèi shā yǐn fā sāo luàn zǒng tǒng xīn 鲍 mǔ zhǐ xiàn shí jú shì qū píng jìng

The killing of the leader of the Mexican drug cartel sparked riots President Simbaum said the situation is now calm

NewsFeb 2026

密宗灌顶变性! 佛大硕生被仁波切狂摸下体:在吸收秽气

mì zōng guàn dǐng biàn xìng sāo ! fó dà shuò shēng bèi rén bō qiē kuáng mō xià tǐ zài xī shōu huì qì

Tantric empowerment transsexuality! The Buddha Da Shuo Sheng was wildly touched by Rinpoche's lower body: absorbing the filthy air

Tatoeba

我们军队总是被游击队扰。

Wǒmen jūnduì zǒngshì bèi yóujīduì sāorǎo.

Our troops were constantly attacked by the guerrillas.

Tatoeba

行动比语言更有说服力。别发牢多做事。

Xíngdòng bǐ yǔyán gèng yǒushuōfúlì. bié fāláosāo duō zuòshì.

Actions speak louder than words. Stop complaining and do it.

Tatoeba

每人心里都有牢

Měirén xīnli dōu yǒu láosāo.

Everyone has something that's troubling him.

Tatoeba

汤姆老是发牢

Tāngmǔ lǎoshi fāláosāo.

Tom complains all the time.

Character Family

Homophones — Characters pronounced sāo

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 骚 (sāo) mean in Chinese?
骚 (sāo) primarily means "disturb, coquettish." It is classified as HSK Level 7-9, making it an expert-level character. It ranks #2182 in character frequency.
How many strokes does 骚 have?
骚 is written with 12 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 骚?
The radical associated with 骚 is 马 (horse). This radical appears in many characters related to horse.
What are the components of 骚?
骚 is composed of: 马 (structural), 蚤 (structural). Its IDS decomposition is ⿰马蚤 with a left-right layout. Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.
What are common words containing 骚?
Common words with 骚 include: 骚扰 (sāo rǎo, "to disturb"); 性骚扰 (xìng sāo rǎo, "sexual harassment"); 骚乱 (sāo luàn, "disturbance"); 发牢骚 (fā láo sāo, "to whine"); 骚动 (sāo dòng, "disturbance"). There are over 31 compound words containing this character.
What characters sound the same as 骚 (sāo)?
Several characters share the pronunciation sāo: 臊 (to smell of urine (or sweat etc)), 扫 (to sweep (with a brush or broom)), 嫂 ((bound form) older brother's wife). Context and tones help distinguish between them in speech and writing.
Is 骚 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
No. The simplified form is 骚 and the traditional form is 騷.

Practice writing with real-time feedback

Trace stroke sequences, hear native 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.