(zào): impatient, hot-tempered

(zào) is a Chinese character meaning “impatient.” Classified as HSK Level 7-9 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of (semantic) and (phonetic). It ranks #2370 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Etymologically derived, foot. Its radical form (foot) appears in many related characters such as (pǎo, to run), (gēn, follow, heel), (, road).

Native pronunciation

Definitions

  1. impatient
  2. hot-tempered

Etymology & Origin

pictophoneticfoot

Decomposition: ⿰足喿 (layout: left-right)

Stroke Order

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
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19
20

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
bào zàoirascible
fán zàojittery
jí zàoirritable
kuáng zàorash
jiāo zàofretful
zào dòngto stir restlessly
fú zàofickle and impatient
zào kuáng zhèngmania
shǎo ān wú zàovariant of 少安毋躁[shao3 an1 wu2 zao4]
xīn fán qì zàoagitated
shǎo ān wú zàokeep calm, don't get excited
dà cháng jī zào zhèngirritable bowel syndrome (IBS)
shāo ān wú zàovariant of 少安毋躁[shao3 an1 wu2 zao4]
shāo ān wù zàovariant of 少安毋躁[shao3 an1 wu2 zao4]
zào kuáng yì yù zhèngmanic depression
19
Total compounds
26
As first character
68
As last character
5
As middle character

appears in 19 compound words: 26 as the first character, 68 as the last, and 5 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.

0.7143,450 co-occurrences
bào
0.5858,742 co-occurrences
fán
0.573963 co-occurrences
jiāo
0.5432,412 co-occurrences
kuáng
0.5412,682 co-occurrences
0.5322,508 co-occurrences
0.4983,234 co-occurrences
zhèng
0.4802,118 co-occurrences
0.450936 co-occurrences
0.426360 co-occurrences

Idioms & Chengyu (4)

jiè jiāo jiè zàoHSK 7+

to guard against pride and impatience (idiom); to remain modest and keep cool

phrase
shāo'ān wùzàoHSK 7+

synonym of 少安勿躁 (shǎo'ān wùzào)

phrase
shǎo ān wú zàoHSK 7+

variant of 少安毋躁[shao3 an1 wu2 zao4]

phrase
shǎo ān wú zàoHSK 7+

keep calm, don't get excited; don't be impatient

phrase

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

字由20笔画组成,结构很巧妙。

zào zì yóu bǐ huà zǔ chéng , jié gòu hěn qiǎo miào .

The character "躁" consists of 20 strokes and features a remarkably ingenious structure.

99 健康网Apr 2026

一边做饭一边狂的心理原因:压力、环境与认知的隐形战场

yī biān zuò fàn yī biān kuáng zào de xīn lǐ yuán yīn : yā lì , huán jìng yǔ rèn zhī de yǐn xíng zhàn chǎng

TvbsMar 2026

影音/从动到沉稳!叶欣眉练拳5年首战败 悟出“害...

yǐng yīn cóng zào dòng dào chén wěn ! xié xīn méi liàn quán 5 nián shǒu zhàn bài wù chū hài . . .

Video/From Restlessness to Composure! Ye Xinmei Suffers First Defeat After 5 Years of Training, Realizing "The Harm..."

Tatoeba

汤姆是个脾气暴的老人。

Tāngmǔ shì ge píqi bàozào de lǎorén.

Tom is a grumpy old man.

Tatoeba

他早上总是有点脾气暴

Tā zǎoshang zǒngshì yǒudiǎn píqi bàozào.

He is always a little irritable in the morning.

Tatoeba

不要让自己因为一些小事而烦了。

Bù yào ràng zìjǐ yīnwèi yīxiē xiǎoshì ér fánzào le.

Stop getting yourself worked up over little things.

Tatoeba

某些动物烦不安, 可能是地震临震前的预兆。

Mǒuxiē dòngwù fánzào bù ān, kěnéng shì dìzhèn lín zhèn qián de yùzhào.

Agitated activity by certain animals may be a sign of an impending earthquake.

Tatoeba

等朋友等太久时,会感到烦.

Děng péngyou děng tài jiǔ shí, huì gǎndào fánzào.

I feel restless when I have to wait too long for my friend to show up.

Character Family

Homophones — Characters pronounced zào

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 躁 (zào) mean in Chinese?
躁 (zào) primarily means "impatient." It is classified as HSK Level 7-9, making it an expert-level character. It ranks #2370 in character frequency.
What's the difference between 躁 and 操?
躁 (zào) and 操 (cāo) are often confused. confusable. The key distinguishing feature: 足 vs 扌 (same 喿 component).
How many strokes does 躁 have?
躁 is written with 20 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 躁?
The radical associated with 躁 is 足 (foot). This radical appears in many characters related to foot.
What are the components of 躁?
躁 is composed of: 足 (semantic), 喿 (phonetic). Its IDS decomposition is ⿰足喿 with a left-right layout. Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.
What are common words containing 躁?
Common words with 躁 include: 暴躁 (bào zào, "irascible"); 烦躁 (fán zào, "jittery"); 急躁 (jí zào, "irritable"); 狂躁 (kuáng zào, "rash"); 焦躁 (jiāo zào, "fretful"). There are over 19 compound words containing this character.
What characters sound the same as 躁 (zào)?
Several characters share the pronunciation zào: 澡 (bath), 燥 (dry), 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 躁 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Yes, 躁 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.