(kǎo) - to roast, to grill, to bake in Mandarin
kǎoTraditional: 烤
Translation
to roast, to grill, to bake
Stroke order
烤
Examples
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We're roasting chicken to eat tonight.
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He likes barbecuing in the garden.
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The bread is already baked.
。
This shop specialises in roast duck.
薯。
When it's cold we like to roast sweet potatoes.
烤 (kǎo) covers roasting, grilling and baking, any cooking done with direct dry heat rather than boiling in water or stir-frying in oil. English splits this into several verbs depending on the equipment; Mandarin is happy to use one character for an oven, a grill or an open fire.
You will meet it constantly as a prefix on food nouns: 烤鸭 (kǎoyā) is "roast duck", 烤肉 (kǎoròu) is "grilled meat" or "barbecue", and 烤面包 (kǎo miànbāo) is "toast", literally "baked bread". 烧烤 (shāokǎo), combining 烧 (shāo, "to burn, to cook") with 烤 (kǎo), is the general word for a barbecue night out, hugely popular in Chinese cities in summer.
The character 烤 (kǎo) carries the fire radical 火 on the left, a useful visual cue once you start noticing it: characters built around 火 (huǒ, "fire") tend to cluster around heat, burning and cooking.
Where this fits
Used in
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烤: worksheet, infographic and listicle
Free printable study downloads for the Mandarin word "烤" (to roast, to grill, to bake): 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 61.