钊 (zhāo): to encourage, to cut, to strain

钊 (zhāo) is a Chinese character meaning “to encourage.” Outside the HSK 3.0 syllabus (CLEC 2022), it is composed of 钅 (structural) and 刂 (structural). It ranks #5466 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Etymologically derived, 钊 a metal 钅 knife 刂; 刂 also provides the pronunciation. Its radical form 钅 (metal) appears in many related characters such as 金 (jīn, metal, gold), 钱 (qián, money), 银 (yín, silver, bank).

Spoken pronunciation

Definitions

  1. to encourage
  2. to cut
  3. to strain

Etymology & Origin

钊

ideographicA metal 钅 knife 刂; 刂 also provides the pronunciation

Decomposition: ⿰钅刂 (layout: left-right)

Stroke Order

1
2
3
4
5
6
7

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

Words & Compounds

Common Compounds

WordPinyinMeaning
李大钊lǐ dà zhāoLi Dazhao (1889-1927), early Chinese Marxist and founding member of the communist party
章士钊zhāng shì zhāoZhang Shizhao (1881-1973), revolutionary journalist in Shanghai, then established writer
2
Total compounds
0
As first character
100
As last character
0
As middle character

钊 appears in 2 compound words: 0 as the first character, 100 as the last, and 0 in a middle position. Compound statistics computed from SUBTLEX-CH and HSK 3.0 vocabulary data.

Example Sentences

中国新闻网·文化Sep 2026

黄钊成十四岁跟前辈学艺,十几年手里出过无数龙头。

huáng zhāo chéng shí sì suì gēn qián bèi xué yì , shí jǐ nián shǒu lǐ chū guò wú shǔ lóng tóu .

Huang Zhaocheng began learning the craft from a master at the age of 14, and over the course of more than a decade, he has crafted countless dragon heads.

中国新闻网·文化Sep 2026

时任北京人艺(“老人艺”)院长李伯钊得知后,建议老舍写个新剧本,还给他借来参考文件。

shí rèn běi jīng rén yì ( lǎo rén yì ) yuàn cháng lǐ bó zhāo dé zhī hòu , jiàn yì lǎo shě xiě gè xīn jù běn , hái gěi tā jiè lái cān kǎo wén jiàn .

Upon learning of this, Li Bozhao, then director of the Beijing People’s Art Theater (“Old People’s Art Theater”), suggested that Lao She write a new play and even lent him some reference materials.

中国新闻网·文化Jul 2026

演李大钊,读懂一代青年以生命赴信仰的赤诚

yǎn lǐ dà zhāo , dú dǒng yī dài qīng nián yǐ shēng mìng fù xìn yǎng de chì chéng

Playing the Role of Li Dazhao: Understanding the Sincerity of a Generation of Youth Who Gave Their Lives for Their Beliefs

中国新闻网·生活Jun 2026

王钊建议,应尽量采用蒸、煮、炖的烹饪方式,少吃煎、烤、炸的食物。

wáng zhāo jiàn yì , yīng jǐn liàng cǎi yòng zhēng , zhǔ , dùn de pēng rèn fāng shì , shǎo chī jiān , kǎo , zhà de shí wù .

Wang Zhao recommends using cooking methods such as steaming, boiling, and braising as much as possible, and eating fewer pan-fried, grilled, or deep-fried foods.

中国新闻网·生活Jun 2026

也正因如此,王钊认为,很多所谓抗衰产品的作用很难评判。

yě zhèng yīn rú cǐ , wáng zhāo rèn wéi , hěn duō suǒ wèi kàng shuāi chǎn pǐn de zuò yòng hěn nán píng pàn .

For this very reason, Wang Zhao believes that it is difficult to evaluate the effectiveness of many so-called anti-aging products.

Character Family

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 钊 (zhāo) mean in Chinese?
钊 (zhāo) primarily means "to encourage." It is not part of the HSK 3.0 syllabus. It ranks #5466 in character frequency.
How many strokes does 钊 have?
钊 is written with 7 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 钊?
The radical associated with 钊 is 钅 (metal). This radical appears in many characters related to metal.
What are the components of 钊?
钊 is composed of: 钅 (structural), 刂 (structural). Its IDS decomposition is ⿰钅刂 with a left-right layout. Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.
What are common words containing 钊?
Common words with 钊 include: 李大钊 (lǐ dà zhāo, "Li Dazhao (1889-1927), early Chinese Marxist and founding member of the communist party"); 章士钊 (zhāng shì zhāo, "Zhang Shizhao (1881-1973), revolutionary journalist in Shanghai, then established writer"). There are over 2 compound words containing this character.
Is 钊 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
No. The simplified form is 钊 and the traditional form is 釗.

Practice writing 钊 with real-time feedback

Trace stroke sequences, hear spoken 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.