TraceHanzi

消耗 meaning in English

xiāohào

to consume; to use up; to deplete; to expend

HSK 6verbnoun20 strokes

Meaning of 消耗

Definitions from CC-CEDICT.

xiāohào
  1. to consume; to use up
  2. to deplete; to expend
  3. (old) news; mail; message

How to use 消耗

消耗 is used for using up energy, time, fuel, or resources, often in a neutral or slightly negative sense. It can be a verb or a noun. Example: 跑步消耗很多能量。(Pǎobù xiāohào hěn duō néngliàng.) Running uses up a lot of energy.

消 (xiāo) means to vanish or fade, and 耗 (hào) means to use up. Together they paint something being used until it disappears, like energy draining away.

Common mistake: Learners often mix up 消耗 with 消费 (xiāofèi). 消费 is about spending money on goods and services, while 消耗 is about depleting energy, materials, or strength. Also note that 耗 is fourth tone (hào), not third tone like 好 (hǎo).

消耗 in example sentences

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

瑞ruì士shì人rén消xiāo耗hào不bù少shǎo啤pí酒jiǔ。
The Swiss consume a large amount of beer.
东dōng欧ōu的de酒jiǔ精jīng消xiāo耗hào量liàng比bǐ西xī欧ōu高gāo。
Alcohol consumption is higher in Eastern Europe than in Western Europe.
农nóng业yè需xū要yào消xiāo耗hào大dà量liàng的de水shuǐ。
Agriculture consumes a great amount of water.
我wǒ们men消xiāo耗hào了le所suǒ有yǒu的de自zì然rán资zī源yuán。
We have consumed all the natural resources.
这zhè座zuò巧qiǎo克kè力lì工gōng厂chǎng每měi一yī天tiān消xiāo耗hào二èr十shí公gōng吨dūn可kě可kě原yuán料liào。
This chocolate factory consumes twenty metric tons of raw cocoa per day.

Stroke order for each character

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

消 xiāo · to diminish · 10 strokes

  1. 1
  2. 2
  3. 3
  4. 4
  5. 5
  6. 6
  7. 7
  8. 8
  9. 9
  10. 10

耗 hào · to waste · 10 strokes

  1. 1
  2. 2
  3. 3
  4. 4
  5. 5
  6. 6
  7. 7
  8. 8
  9. 9
  10. 10

Related words

Words that share a character with 消耗.

消息xiāoxi(piece of) news; information; message
消失xiāoshīto disappear; to fade away
取消qǔxiāoto cancel; to call off; to revoke; to rescind
消费xiāofèito consume (goods and services, resources etc)
消化xiāohuàto digest (food); (fig.) to absorb (information etc); to assimilate; to process
消除xiāochúto eliminate; to remove
消防xiāofángfirefighting; fire control
消毒xiāodúto disinfect; to sterilize
消极xiāojínegative; passive
消费者xiāofèizhěconsumer
消灭xiāomièto put an end to; to annihilate
消遣xiāoqiǎnto while the time away; amusement

Questions about 消耗

What does 消耗 mean?

消耗 (xiāohào) means "to consume; to use up; to deplete; to expend" and is used as a verb and noun.

How do you write 消耗?

消耗 is made of 2 characters: 消 (10 strokes), 耗 (10 strokes). That is 20 strokes in total.

Is 消耗 an HSK word?

Yes. 消耗 is on the HSK 6 vocabulary list of the HSK 3.0 standard.

Can 消耗 be used as a noun?

Yes. For example, 能源消耗 (néngyuán xiāohào) means energy consumption. It often appears this way in news and technical writing.

Is the meaning 'news' or 'message' still used?

Rarely. That is an old meaning. In modern Chinese, use 消息 (xiāoxi) for news or a message.

去掉Previous in HSK 6qùdiào