(zǎo): aquatic grasses, elegant

(zǎo) is a Chinese character meaning “aquatic grasses.” Classified as HSK Level 7-9 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of (semantic) and (phonetic). It ranks #2527 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Etymologically derived, grass. Its radical form (grass) appears in many related characters such as (huā, flower), (chá, tea), (cài, vegetable, dish).

Native pronunciation

Definitions

  1. aquatic grasses
  2. elegant

Etymology & Origin

pictophoneticgrass

Decomposition: ⿱艹澡 (layout: top-bottom)

Stroke Order

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19

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
hǎi zǎoseaweed
zǎo lèialgae
cí zǎorhetoric
绿lǜ zǎogreen algae
cí zǎorhetoric
luó xuán zǎospiral algae
lán zǎocyanobacterium (blue-green alga)
guī zǎodiatom (single-celled phytoplankton)
jīn yú zǎohornwort (Ceratophyllum demersum)
wán nòng cí zǎoto juggle with words (dishonestly)
lán zǎo ménCyanobacteria (phylum of blue-green algae)
yǎn chóng zǎoeuglena (biology)
dān bāo zǎosingle-celled algae
guī zǎo ménBacillariophyta, phylum of diatom single-celled phytoplankton
zǎo huáalgal bloom
19
Total compounds
11
As first character
79
As last character
11
As middle character

appears in 19 compound words: 11 as the first character, 79 as the last, and 11 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.

0.6927,320 co-occurrences
jiāo
0.4921,542 co-occurrences
fèng
0.4882,376 co-occurrences
náng
0.4491,014 co-occurrences
lán
0.4381,524 co-occurrences
luǎn
0.4361,050 co-occurrences
qiào
0.432618 co-occurrences
jùn
0.417258 co-occurrences
wāng
0.411948 co-occurrences
shéng
0.402300 co-occurrences

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

字在不同的语境中有不同的用法。

zǎo zì zài bù tóng de yǔ jìng zhōng yǒu bù tóng de yòng fǎ .

The character "藻" has different usages in different contexts.

中国新闻网·文化Aug 2026

没有炫技的辞,没有精致的滤镜。

méi yǒu xuàn jì de cí zǎo , méi yǒu jīng zhì de lǜ jìng .

No flashy language, no fancy filters.

少数派Aug 2026

在外,奈美是平介的女儿;关上房门,拥有直子灵魂的奈美又把自己当平介的妻子。

zài wài , zǎo nài měi shì píng jiè de nǚ ér ; guān shàng fáng mén , yōng yǒu zhí zǐ líng hún de zǎo nài měi yòu bǎ zì jǐ dāng píng jiè de qī zǐ .

In public, Onami is Heisuke’s daughter; but behind closed doors, Onami—who possesses Naoko’s soul—sees herself as Heisuke’s wife.

奇客SolidotAug 2026

在实验室条件下,它们主要取食岩石表面的硅,也能够摄食人工投喂的鱼饲料。

zài shí yàn shì tiáo jiàn xià , tā men zhǔ yāo qǔ shí yán shí biǎo miàn de 硅 zǎo , yě néng gòu shè shí rén gōng tóu wéi de yú sì liào .

Under laboratory conditions, they primarily feed on diatoms on the surface of rocks, but they can also consume fish feed provided by hand.

中国新闻网·生活Jul 2026

鱼油、螺旋等10种功能性原料已纳入备案目录——海洋保健食品,您选对了吗?

yú yóu , luó xuán zǎo děng 1 0 zhǒng gōng néng xìng yuán liào yǐ nà rù bèi àn mù lù — — hǎi yáng bǎo jiàn shí pǐn , nín xuǎn duì le ma ?

10 Functional Ingredients, Including Fish Oil and Spirulina, Have Been Added to the Filing Catalog—Have You Chosen the Right Marine Health Food?

少数派Jun 2026

同时,它的核心成分是褐酵萃,对于减少纹路,紧致抗皱都有不错的效果。

tóng shí , tā de hé xīn chéng fēn shì 褐 zǎo jiào 萃 , duì yú jiǎn shǎo wén lù , jǐn zhì kàng zhòu dōu yǒu bù cuò de xiào guǒ .

At the same time, its key ingredient is brown algae extract, which is effective at reducing fine lines, firming the skin, and combating wrinkles.

Character Family

Semantic Family — Characters sharing the 艹 (grass) component

Homophones — Characters pronounced zǎo

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 藻 (zǎo) mean in Chinese?
藻 (zǎo) primarily means "aquatic grasses." It is classified as HSK Level 7-9, making it an expert-level character. It ranks #2527 in character frequency.
How many strokes does 藻 have?
藻 is written with 19 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 藻?
The radical associated with 藻 is 艹 (grass). This radical appears in many characters related to grass.
What are the components of 藻?
藻 is composed of: 艹 (semantic), 澡 (phonetic). Its IDS decomposition is ⿱艹澡 with a top-bottom layout. Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.
What are common words containing 藻?
Common words with 藻 include: 海藻 (hǎi zǎo, "seaweed"); 藻类 (zǎo lèi, "algae"); 词藻 (cí zǎo, "rhetoric"); 绿藻 (lǜ zǎo, "green algae"); 辞藻 (cí zǎo, "rhetoric"). There are over 19 compound words containing this character.
What characters sound the same as 藻 (zǎo)?
Several characters share the pronunciation zǎo: 造 (to make, to build), 早 (early, morning), 遭 (to meet by chance (usually with misfortune)), 糟 (dregs), and 6 more. Context and tones help distinguish between them in speech and writing.
Is 藻 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Yes, 藻 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.