糟 (zāo): dregs, draff, pickled in wine
糟 (zāo) is a Chinese character meaning “dregs.” Classified as HSK Level 5 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of 米 (semantic) and 曹 (phonetic). It ranks #1896 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).
Etymologically derived, 糟 grain. Its radical form 米 (rice) appears in many related characters such as 米 (mǐ, uncooked rice), 类 (lèi, kind), 精 (jīng, essence).
Definitions
- dregs
- draff
- pickled in wine
Etymology & Origin
Stroke Order
Practice writing 糟 with real-time feedback — trace each stroke in the correct order and build muscle memory in the HanziFeed app.
Words & Compounds
HSK Vocabulary with 糟
Common Compounds
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 一团糟adjective | yī tuán zāo | chaos |
| 乱七八糟phrase | luàn qī bā zāo | (idiom) chaotic |
| 糟蹋verb | zāo tà | to waste |
| 乱糟糟adjective | luàn zāo zāo | chaotic |
| 乌七八糟phrase | wū qī bā zāo | everything in disorder (idiom) |
| 糟粕noun | zāo pò | dross |
| 糟踏 | zāo tà | variant of 糟蹋 |
| 糟心 | zāo xīn | vexed |
| 污七八糟 | wū qī bā zāo | variant of 烏七八糟|乌七八糟 |
| 酒糟noun | jiǔ zāo | distiller's grain |
| 一团乱糟 | yī tuán luàn zāo | a chaotic mess |
| 糟了 | zāo le | gosh! |
| 取其精华，去其糟粕 | qǔ qí jīng huá , qù qí zāo pò | take the cream, discard the dross (political and educational slogan) |
| 糟溜黄鱼片 | zāo liū huáng yú piàn | stir-fried yellow fish filet |
| 酒糟鼻noun | jiǔ zāo bí | rosacea (dermatological condition of the face and nose) |
糟 appears in 25 compound words: 48 as the first character, 36 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 糟 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.
Idioms & Chengyu (3)
Example Sentences
糟字由17笔画组成，结构很巧妙。
zāo zì yóu bǐ huà zǔ chéng , jié gòu hěn qiǎo miào .
The character "糟" consists of 17 strokes and features a remarkably ingenious structure.
...风暴 港妈狠下一“毒手”变汤渣 网民齐爆糟蹋贵价食材惨案|Juicy叮
. . . fēng bào gǎng mā hěn xià yī dú shǒu biàn tāng zhā wǎng mín qí bào zāo tà guì jià shí cái cǎn àn J u i c y dīng
...Storm: Hong Kong Mom Takes a "Cruel" Swipe, Turning Ingredients into Soup Scum; Netizens Outrage Over the Tragedy of Wasting Expensive Ingredients | Juicy Ding
李政厚35亿元约被指巨人最糟合约 美媒冷评“尚未证明身价”
lǐ zhèng hòu 3 5 yì yuán yuē bèi zhǐ jù rén zuì zāo gě yuē měi méi lěng píng shàng wèi zhèng míng shēn jià
Lee Jung-ho’s 3.5 billion yuan contract has been called the Giants’ worst deal; U.S. media coldly remarks, “He has yet to prove his worth.”
...了酒对宝宝有没有影响?微量酒精饮料比如醪糟安全吗
. . . le jiǔ duì bǎo bǎo yǒu méi yǒu yǐng xiǎng ? wēi liàng jiǔ jīng yǐn liào bǐ rú 醪 zāo ān quán ma
... Does alcohol affect the baby? Are trace alcoholic beverages such as mash safe?
7千万修复儒考棚变特卖会场!挨轰糟蹋古迹 市府称:短期个案
7 qiān wàn xiū fù rú kǎo péng biàn tè mài huì chǎng ! āi hōng zāo tà gǔ jì shì fǔ chèn : duǎn qī gè àn
70 million repaired Confucian examination shed into a special sale venue! The city government said: short-term case
...!玩家忧AI淹没游戏...总裁喊:不允许糟糕AI
. . . ! wán jiā yōu A I yān méi yóu xì . . . zǒng cái hǎn : bù yǔn xǔ zāo gāo A I
...! Players are worried about AI flooding the game... The president shouted: No bad AI allowed
丧失健康比丧失金钱更糟糕。
Sàngshī jiànkāng bǐ sàngshī jīnqián gèng zāogāo.
Losing one's health is worse than losing money.
汤姆的厨艺其实不那么糟糕。
Tāngmǔ de chúyì qíshí bù nàme zāogāo.
Tom's cooking was actually not so bad.
糟了！我中了他的计！
Zāole! Wǒ zhòng le tā de jì!
Crap! I fell for his trap!
他的房间乱七八糟。
Tā de fángjiān luànqībāzāo.
His room was in disorder.
Character Family
Semantic Family — Characters sharing the 米 (grain) component
Frequently Asked Questions
What does 糟 (zāo) mean in Chinese?
What's the difference between 糟 and 槽?
How many strokes does 糟 have?
What is the radical of 糟?
What are the components of 糟?
What are common words containing 糟?
What characters sound the same as 糟 (zāo)?
Is 糟 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Practice writing 糟 with real-time feedback
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