潮 meaning and stroke order
Tide; damp; moist; humid; fashionable; trendy
How to write 潮, stroke by stroke
15 strokes in order. Each box adds the next stroke in red. Write top to bottom and left to right, and finish enclosing strokes last.
- 1
- 2
- 3
- 4
- 5
- 6
- 7
- 8
- 9
- 10
- 11
- 12
- 13
- 14
- 15
Meaning of 潮
Definitions from CC-CEDICT, grouped by pronunciation.
- tide
- damp; moist; humid
- fashionable; trendy
- (coll.) inferior; substandard
How 潮 is built
Phono-semantic (sound + meaning) character. Water.
氵 gives the meaning and 朝 hints at the sound.
Radical: 氵 (water), shared by 467 characters on this site.
How to remember 潮
潮 is water 氵 plus 朝 (cháo), which also gives the sound. Picture the water rising toward shore each morning (朝 zhāo means morning), and you have the tide.
潮 appears mostly in compounds: 潮水 (cháoshuǐ) for tide, 潮湿 (cháoshī) for damp, and 潮流 (cháoliú) or 新潮 (xīncháo) for trends. On its own in speech it often means damp or, among young people, trendy. 这件衣服很潮。(Zhè jiàn yīfu hěn cháo.) This piece of clothing is really trendy.
Common mistake: Learners sometimes read 潮 as zhāo because 朝 can be read zhāo (morning). 潮 is always cháo with the second tone. Also do not confuse it with 湖 (hú, lake), which has 胡 on the right instead of 朝.
Common words with 潮
Ordered by HSK level, then by how often they appear in everyday Chinese.
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning | Level |
|---|---|---|---|
| 高潮 | gāocháo | high tide; high water; upsurge; peak of activity | HSK 4 |
| 潮湿 | cháoshī | damp; moist | HSK 4 |
| 潮流 | cháoliú | tide; current | HSK 4 |
| 新潮 | xīncháo | modern; fashionable | HSK 7-9 |
| 热潮 | rècháo | wave of enthusiasm; craze; upsurge | HSK 7-9 |
| 潮水 | cháoshuǐ | tide | |
| 性高潮 | xìnggāocháo | orgasm; climax | |
| 浪潮 | làngcháo | wave; tides | |
| 潮汐 | cháoxī | tide | |
| 涨潮 | zhǎngcháo | high tide; rising tide | |
| 低潮 | dīcháo | low tide; low ebb | |
| 人潮 | réncháo | a tide of people | |
| 心血来潮 | xīnxuèláicháo | to be prompted by a sudden impulse; carried away by a whim |
潮 in example sentences
Real sentences from the Tatoeba project, with pinyin and English.
Questions about 潮
How many strokes are in 潮?
潮 is written with 15 strokes. The diagrams on this page number every stroke in the order it is written, with the new stroke shown in red.
What does 潮 mean?
潮 (cháo) means tide; damp; moist; humid; fashionable; trendy. A common word with it is 高潮 (gāocháo), meaning "high tide; high water; upsurge; peak of activity".
How do you pronounce 潮?
潮 is pronounced cháo, in the second tone (rising).
What is the radical of 潮?
The radical of 潮 is 氵, which carries the idea of "water". Dictionaries list 潮 under this radical.
Is 潮 on the HSK exam?
Yes. 潮 is part of the HSK 4 character list in the HSK 3.0 standard.
How do I say the weather is humid using 潮?
You can say 天气很潮 (tiānqì hěn cháo) or the more standard 天气很潮湿 (tiānqì hěn cháoshī). Both describe damp, humid air.
Is 高潮 only used for tides?
No. 高潮 (gāocháo) often means the climax of a story, film or event, or a peak of activity. Be aware it can also mean orgasm in some contexts, so the full word 性高潮 is used when that sense is explicit.