(zào): dry, parched, impatient, vexed, (bound form) (Taiwan pr.) minced meat

(zào) is a Chinese character meaning “dry.” Classified as HSK Level 6 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of (semantic) and (phonetic). It ranks #2501 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Etymologically derived, fire. Its radical form (fire) appears in many related characters such as (huǒ, fire), (dēng, lamp, light), (yān, smoke).

Native pronunciation

Definitions

  1. dry
  2. parched
  3. impatient
  4. vexed
  5. (bound form) (Taiwan pr.) minced meat

Etymology & Origin

pictophoneticfire

Decomposition: ⿰火喿 (layout: left-right)

Stroke Order

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17

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

Words & Compounds

HSK Vocabulary with

WordPinyinMeaningHSK
adjectivegān zào(of weather, climate, soil etc) dry6
adjectivekū zàodry and dull6

Common Compounds

WordPinyinMeaning
zào rèuncomfortably hot and dry
gān zào jìdesiccant
便dà biàn gān zàoconstipated
gān zào jīa drier
kǒu gān shé zàolit. dry mouth and tongue (idiom)
zào ziminced meat
kū zào wú wèitedious
ròu zào(Tw) minced pork stewed with soy sauce and spices (served with rice or noodles, or as a filling in buns etc)
bào zàovariant of 暴躁[bao4 zao4]
qiū zàoautumn dryness disease (TCM)
jiāo zàovariant of 焦躁[jiao1 zao4]
fú zàovariant of 浮躁[fu2 zao4]
14
Total compounds
14
As first character
64
As last character
21
As middle character

appears in 14 compound words: 14 as the first character, 64 as the last, and 21 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.

gān
0.67025,989 co-occurrences
zhōng
0.63217 co-occurrences
jiǎng
0.61017 co-occurrences
0.6012,430 co-occurrences
0.51517 co-occurrences
hán
0.4801,746 co-occurrences
liǎng
0.48017 co-occurrences
0.468174 co-occurrences
cóng
0.464894 co-occurrences
lěng
0.4602,592 co-occurrences

Idioms & Chengyu (2)

kǒugānshézàoHSK 6+

dry mouth and sore throat; having spoken so much that one's mouth and throat become thirsty

phrase
kū zào wú wèiHSK 6+

tedious; dreary

phrase

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

篝火晚会上,大家手拉手围着堆跳舞。

篝 huǒ wǎn huì shǎng , dà jiā shǒu lā shǒu wéi zhe zào duī tiào wǔ .

At the bonfire party, everyone danced hand in hand around the blazing fire.

TvbsMar 2026

免花大钱!达人曝“除湿神物”自制干花:比风干更鲜艳立体

miǎn huā dà qián ! dá rén pù chú shī shén wù zì zhì gān zào huā : bǐ fēng gān gēng xiān yàn lì tǐ

Orientaldaily MyMar 2026

开斋节期间全国天气料干炎热 资源部长吁民众多加留意防中暑

kāi 斋 jié qī jiān quán guó tiān qì liào gān zào yán rè zī yuán bù cháng xū mín zhòng duō jiā liú yì fáng zhōng shǔ

Dry and hot weather is expected nationwide during Eid al-Fitr; the Minister of Natural Resources urges the public to take extra precautions against heatstroke

99 健康网Mar 2026

男人下面瘙痒是什么原因引起的?保持干比频繁用药更重要吗

nán rén xià miàn 瘙 yǎng shì shén má yuán yīn yǐn qǐ de ? bǎo chí gān zào bǐ pín fán yòng yào gēng chóng yāo ma

What causes itching under a man? Is it more important to stay dry than frequent medication?

99 健康网Mar 2026

妇科白斑怎么治疗才能彻底根除?保持干比频繁清洗更重要吗

fù kē bái bān zěn má zhì liáo cái néng chè de gēn chú ? bǎo chí gān zào bǐ pín fán qīng xǐ gēng chóng yāo ma

How can vaginal leukoplakia be completely cured? Is keeping the area dry more important than frequent washing?

東森新聞Feb 2026

台南“林家肉饭”宣布复活回归!网:请继续发光发热

tái nán lín jiā ròu zào fàn xuān bù fù huó huí guī ! wǎng : qǐng jì xù fā guāng fā rè

Tainan's "Lin's Pork Rice" announced its resurrection and return! Net: Please continue to shine

Tatoeba

寒冷干,灿烂的阳光,多么美丽的冬日天气!

Hánlěng gānzào, cànlàn de yángguāng, duōme měilì de dōng rì tiānqì!

Cold and dry, splendid sunshine, what beautiful winter weather!

Tatoeba

这是片干地区,几乎是一片荒漠。

Zhè shì piàn gānzào dìqū, jīhū shì yī piàn huāngmò.

It is an arid region, almost a desert.

Tatoeba

这里的夏天很潮湿,另外,冬天很干

Zhèlǐ de xiàtiān hěn cháoshī, lìngwài, dōngtiān hěn gānzào.

It gets very humid here in the summer. In the winter, on the other hand, it gets very dry.

Tatoeba

如果没有了音乐,这个世界一定会变得十分枯乏味。

Rúguǒ méiyǒu le yīnyuè, zhège shìjiè yīdìng huì biànde shífēn kūzào fáwèi.

If not for music, the world would be a dull place.

Character Family

Homophones — Characters pronounced zào

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 燥 (zào) mean in Chinese?
燥 (zào) primarily means "dry." It is classified as HSK Level 6, making it an advanced character. It ranks #2501 in character frequency.
What's the difference between 燥 and 湿?
燥 (zào) and 湿 (shī) are often confused. antonym. The key distinguishing feature: 燥 (dry) vs 湿 (wet).
How many strokes does 燥 have?
燥 is written with 17 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 燥?
The radical associated with 燥 is 火 (fire). This radical appears in many characters related to fire.
What are the components of 燥?
燥 is composed of: 火 (semantic), 喿 (phonetic). Its IDS decomposition is ⿰火喿 with a left-right layout. Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.
What are common words containing 燥?
Common words with 燥 include: 干燥 (gān zào, "(of weather, climate, soil etc) dry"); 枯燥 (kū zào, "dry and dull"); 燥热 (zào rè, "uncomfortably hot and dry"); 干燥剂 (gān zào jì, "desiccant"); 大便干燥 (dà biàn gān zào, "constipated"). There are over 14 compound words containing this character.
What characters sound the same as 燥 (zào)?
Several characters share the pronunciation zào: 澡 (bath), 躁 (impatient), 遭 (to meet by chance (usually with misfortune)), 糟 (dregs), and 4 more. Context and tones help distinguish between them in speech and writing.
Is 燥 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Yes, 燥 is written the same way in both simplified and traditional Chinese.

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.