早 meaning in English

zǎo

early; morning

HSK 1adjective6 strokes

Meaning of 早

Definitions from CC-CEDICT.

zǎo

early
morning
Good morning!
long ago
prematurely

How to use 早

早 means early, and on its own 早 is a casual way to say good morning. It also appears in time words like 早上 (zǎoshang) and in phrases like 早就 (zǎo jiù), meaning already long ago. Example: 他早就走了。(Tā zǎo jiù zǒu le.) He left a long time ago.

早 (zǎo) shows 日 (sun) sitting on top of 十, like the sun just rising above the ground. When the sun first comes up, it is early morning.

Common mistake: Learners often confuse 早 (zǎo) with 草 (cǎo, grass), which adds the grass radical on top. Also watch the tone. 早 is third tone, not fourth like 造 (zào).

早 in example sentences

Real sentences from the Tatoeba project, with pinyin and English.

什shén么me原yuán因yīn让ràng你nǐ这zhè么me早zǎo来lái这zhè里lǐ？

What made you come here so early?

你nǐ今jīn天tiān必bì须xū起qǐ得de很hěn早zǎo吗ma？

Did you have to get up very early this morning?

当dāng我wǒ打dǎ给gěi他tā，他tā早zǎo就jiù已yǐ经jīng出chū发fā了le。

When I called, he had already set off.

我wǒ们men应yīng该gāi早zǎo点diǎn离lí开kāi的de。

We should've left earlier.

今jīn天tiān早zǎo上shàng你nǐ在zài做zuò什shén么me？

What were you doing this morning?

Stroke order for each character

Open a character for its meaning, components and more words.

早 zǎo · early · 6 strokes

Related words

Words that share a character with 早.

早上	zǎoshang	early morning
早饭	zǎofàn	breakfast
早就	zǎo jiù	already at an earlier time
早餐	zǎocān	breakfast
早晨	zǎochen	early morning; also pr. [zao3chen5]
早已	zǎoyǐ	for a long time; long since; (dialect) in the past
早期	zǎoqī	early period; early phase; early stage
早晚	zǎowǎn	morning and evening; (in reference to sth that is bound to happen) sooner or later; one of
迟早	chízǎo	sooner or later
一早	yīzǎo	early in the morning; at dawn
一大早	yīdàzǎo	at dawn; at first light
提早	tízǎo	ahead of schedule; sooner than planned

Questions about 早

What does 早 mean?

早 (zǎo) means "early; morning" and is used as a adjective.

How do you write 早?

早 is made of 1 character: 早 (6 strokes). That is 6 strokes in total.

Is 早 an HSK word?

Yes. 早 is on the HSK 1 vocabulary list of the HSK 3.0 standard.

How do I say I get up early in Chinese?

Put 早 before the verb: 我早起 (wǒ zǎo qǐ) or 我起得很早 (wǒ qǐ de hěn zǎo). The second form uses 得 to describe how early you do something.

What is the difference between 早饭 and 早餐?

Both mean breakfast. 早饭 (zǎofàn) is more everyday and spoken, while 早餐 (zǎocān) sounds a bit more formal and is common on menus and signs.