糕 meaning and stroke order
Cake, pastry
How to write 糕, stroke by stroke
16 strokes in order. Each box adds the next stroke in red. Write top to bottom and left to right, and finish enclosing strokes last.
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Meaning of 糕
Definitions from CC-CEDICT, grouped by pronunciation.
- cake
- variant of 糕[gao1]
How 糕 is built
Phono-semantic (sound + meaning) character. Rice.
米 gives the meaning and 羔 hints at the sound.
Radical: 米 (rice), shared by 50 characters on this site.
How to remember 糕
糕 (gāo) is pictophonetic: 米 (mǐ, rice) on the left gives the meaning, and 羔 (gāo, lamb) on the right gives the sound. Picture rice flour pressed into a soft little cake shaped like a lamb.
糕 rarely stands alone and usually appears in words like 蛋糕 (dàngāo, cake), 糕点 (gāodiǎn, pastries), and 年糕 (niángāo, New Year rice cake). The very common word 糟糕 (zāogāo) means "too bad" or "oh no" and has nothing to do with food. Example: 糟糕，我忘带钥匙了。(Zāogāo, wǒ wàng dài yàoshi le.) Oh no, I forgot my keys.
Common mistake: Learners often mix up 糕 (gāo) with 羔 (gāo, lamb) or 膏 (gāo, paste, ointment) because all three share the same sound. Remember that 糕 has 米 on the left because it is a food made from grain.
Common words with 糕
Ordered by HSK level, then by how often they appear in everyday Chinese.
糕 in example sentences
Real sentences from the Tatoeba project, with pinyin and English.
Questions about 糕
How many strokes are in 糕?
糕 is written with 16 strokes. The diagrams on this page number every stroke in the order it is written, with the new stroke shown in red.
What does 糕 mean?
糕 (gāo) means cake, pastry. A common word with it is 糟糕 (zāogāo), meaning "too bad; how terrible".
How do you pronounce 糕?
糕 is pronounced gāo, in the first tone (high and level).
What is the radical of 糕?
The radical of 糕 is 米, which carries the idea of "rice". Dictionaries list 糕 under this radical.
What is the traditional form of 糕?
The traditional form of 糕 is 餻. Traditional characters are used in Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macau; 糕 is the simplified form used in mainland China and Singapore.
Is 糕 on the HSK exam?
Yes. 糕 is part of the HSK 5 character list in the HSK 3.0 standard.
Is 雪糕 ice cream or cake?
雪糕 (xuěgāo) is an ice cream bar or popsicle, not a cake. For scooped ice cream, people usually say 冰淇淋 (bīngqílín).
Why is 年糕 eaten at Chinese New Year?
年糕 (niángāo) sounds like 年高 (nián gāo), "higher every year", so eating it suggests growth and progress. It is typically made with glutinous rice flour.