(ào) - profound, abstruse in Mandarin
àoTraditional: 奧
Translation
profound, abstruse
Word origin
In classical Chinese 奥 named the south-western corner of a room, the innermost part furthest from the door and the least visible. The sense of deep, hidden and hard to reach grew out of that corner.
- Origin
- Classical Chinese
- Root
- 奥 (ào, the innermost corner of a room)
Stroke order
奥
Examples
深。
The reasoning in this book is very profound.
。
There are many mysteries in the natural world.
。
He finally saw the subtlety of it.
。
The Olympic Games, held every four years, are about to begin.
。
Her parents live in Austria.
奥 (ào) means deep, hidden and hard to fathom. It is a bound character in modern Chinese, so you meet it inside compounds: 深奥 for profound or abstruse, 奥秘 for a mystery of nature, 奥妙 for a clever subtlety somebody has to point out to you.
It has a second and much more visible job as a transliteration syllable. 奥运会 is the Olympics, 奥地利 is Austria, 奥巴马 is Obama. Any foreign name with an aw or oh sound is a candidate.
The trap is expecting a meaning where there is only a sound. In 奥地利 the character contributes nothing about profundity, exactly as the p in "Philip" tells you nothing about horses. When a string of characters looks semantically bizarre, check whether you are reading a name before you go hunting for the metaphor.
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奥: worksheet, infographic and listicle
Free printable study downloads for the Mandarin word "奥" (profound, abstruse): a worksheet with the answer key built in, an infographic, and a sentence listicle. Open any one to view, print or save.
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Start your free weekThis word is part of lesson 50.