(zhào): at first, devise, originate

(zhào) is a Chinese character meaning “at first.” Classified as HSK Level 7-9 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), with radical (brush). It ranks #2840 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Native pronunciation
HSK 7-9Radical: brush14 strokesFrequency #2840

Definitions

  1. at first
  2. devise
  3. originate

Stroke Order

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

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
zhào shìto cause an accident
zhào shì zhěoffender
jiāo tōng zhào shì zuìculpable driving causing serious damage or injury
zhào qìng dà xuéZhaoqing University (Guangdong)
zhào dōng shìZhaodong, a county-level city in Suihua City 綏化市|绥化市[Sui2 hua4 Shi4], Heilongjiang
lǐ zhào xīngLi Zhaoxing (1940-), former PRC foreign minister
dīng zhào zhōngSamuel C. C. Ting (1936-), American physicist, 1976 Nobel Prize laureate in physics
zhào qìng shìZhaoqing, prefecture-level city in Guangdong Province 廣東省|广东省[Guang3 dong1 Sheng3]
zhào yīncause
zhào shì táo yìhit-and-run
zhào dōngsee 肇東市|肇东市[Zhao4 dong1 Shi4]
zhào jiànto build (for the first time)
zhào shǐto initiate
zhào zhōu xiànZhaozhou, a county in Daqing City 大慶市|大庆市[Da4 qing4 Shi4], Heilongjiang
zhào yuán xiànZhaoyuan, a county in Daqing City 大慶市|大庆市[Da4 qing4 Shi4], Heilongjiang
22
Total compounds
82
As first character
5
As last character
14
As middle character

appears in 22 compound words: 82 as the first character, 5 as the last, and 14 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.

qìng
0.56110,902 co-occurrences
lán
0.457582 co-occurrences
0.4241,212 co-occurrences
0.424630 co-occurrences
shì
0.42318,060 co-occurrences
huò
0.385288 co-occurrences
dǐng
0.383708 co-occurrences
yáng
0.3721,356 co-occurrences
táng
0.3712,130 co-occurrences
táo
0.3661,614 co-occurrences

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

字的写法很特别,让我印象深刻。

zhào zì de xiě fǎ hěn tè bié , ràng wǒ yìn xiàng shēn kè .

The way the character "肇" is written is quite unique and has left a deep impression on me.

Am730Mar 2026

...起火传爆炸声酿4伤 疑不小心处理喷雾气瓶祸 (有片)

. . . qǐ huǒ chuán bào zhà shēng niàng 4 shāng yí bù xiǎo xīn chǔ lǐ pēn wù qì píng zhào huò ( yǒu piàn )

...Fire and Explosion Leave 4 Injured; Accident Likely Caused by Improper Handling of Aerosol Can (Video)

三立新聞網Mar 2026

彰化事路口榜单出炉!“这路口”卫冕王

zhāng huà zhào shì lù kǒu bǎng dān chū lú ! zhè lù kǒu wèi 冕 wáng

Changhua’s List of High-Accident Intersections Released! “This Intersection” Retains Its Title

TvbsMar 2026

资深男星2度酒驾撞分隔岛!逃后“揪友聚餐灭证” 坦承嫌疑遭移送

zī shēn nán xīng 2 dù jiǔ jià zhuàng fēn gé dǎo ! zhào táo hòu jiū yǒu jù cān miè zhèng tǎn chéng xián yí zāo yí sòng

Veteran Actor Caught Drunk Driving for the Second Time, Crashes Into Median! Flees the Scene, Then "Gathers Friends for Dinner to Destroy Evidence"; Admits to Charges and Is Referred to Prosecutors

99 健康网Mar 2026

庆超导可视微管堕胎的价钱是多少?说明超导...

zhào qìng chāo dǎo kě shì wēi guǎn duò tāi de jià qián shì duō shǎo ? shuō míng chāo dǎo . . .

How much does a guided ultrasound-guided microtube abortion cost in Zhaoqing? Please explain the guided...

LtnFeb 2026

国批公务机关贴“马上有钱”春联很奇怪 今...

jiāng zhào guó pī gōng wù jī guān tiē mǎ shàng yǒu qián chūn lián hěn qí guài jīn . . .

Jiang Zhaoguo's approval of public agencies for posting "money soon" Spring Festival couplets is very strange today...

Tatoeba

上海以前有许多小河浜,其中有家浜、洋泾浜,现在都被填了。

Shànghǎi yǐqián yǒu xǔduō xiǎohé bāng, qízhōng yǒu zhào jiā bāng, yáng Jīng bāng, xiànzài dōu bèi tián le.

There used to be a lot of small creeks in old time Shanghai, which included Zhaojia Creek and Yangjing Creek, but they're all covered up nowadays.

Character Family

Radical Family — Characters sharing the brush radical

Related Characters

Homophones — Characters pronounced zhào

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 肇 (zhào) mean in Chinese?
肇 (zhào) primarily means "at first." It is classified as HSK Level 7-9, making it an expert-level character. It ranks #2840 in character frequency.
How many strokes does 肇 have?
肇 is written with 14 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 肇?
The radical associated with 肇 is 聿 (brush). This radical appears in many characters related to brush.
What are common words containing 肇?
Common words with 肇 include: 肇事 (zhào shì, "to cause an accident"); 肇事者 (zhào shì zhě, "offender"); 交通肇事罪 (jiāo tōng zhào shì zuì, "culpable driving causing serious damage or injury"); 肇庆大学 (zhào qìng dà xué, "Zhaoqing University (Guangdong)"); 肇东市 (zhào dōng shì, "Zhaodong, a county-level city in Suihua City 綏化市|绥化市[Sui2 hua4 Shi4], Heilongjiang"). There are over 22 compound words containing this character.
What characters sound the same as 肇 (zhào)?
Several characters share the pronunciation zhào: 招 (to recruit, 招手), 爪 (foot of a bird or animal), 找 (to look for), 沼 (pond), and 4 more. Context and tones help distinguish between them in speech and writing.
Is 肇 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Yes, 肇 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.