(zāo gāo) - terrible, awful, oh no in Mandarin
zāogāoTraditional: 糟糕
HSK 4
#669 of 5,000 Core 1000
Translation
terrible, awful, oh no
Word origin
糟糕 (zāogāo) literally means 'spoiled cakes', used figuratively for 'terrible, what a mess'. 糟 'dregs, to spoil' is a phono-semantic compound of 米 (mǐ, 'grain' radical) with 曹 (cáo) as phonetic; 糕 'cake' pairs the same 米 radical with 羔 (gāo, 'lamb') as phonetic.
- Origin
- compound
- Root
- 糟 (米 grain radical + 曹 phonetic) + 糕 (米 grain radical + 羔 phonetic)
Stroke order
糟
糕
Examples
，。
Oh no, I forgot to bring my wallet.
。
The weather is really awful.
。
The situation is worse than imagined.
，。
Oh no, I forgot to bring my keys.
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