Meaning of 糟糕
Definitions from CC-CEDICT.
- too bad
- how terrible
- what bad luck
- terrible
- bad
How to use 糟糕
糟糕 describes things that are bad, like weather, results, or a situation. It is also used alone as an exclamation when something goes wrong, like "oh no." Example: 糟糕,我忘带钥匙了。(Zāogāo, wǒ wàng dài yàoshi le.) Oh no, I forgot my keys.
Both characters have the rice radical 米 on the left. 糟 (zāo) is the leftover mash from making wine, and 糕 (gāo) is a rice cake. Picture a rice cake that fell into the wine dregs. That is a soggy, terrible mess.
Common mistake: Learners often write 糕 with 羔 but forget the rice radical 米, or mix it up with 羔 (gāo, lamb) itself. Also keep both syllables in the first tone, zāo gāo. Do not let the second one rise.
糟糕 in example sentences
Real sentences from the Tatoeba project, with pinyin and English.
Stroke order for each character
Open a character for its meaning, components and more words.
糟 zāo · dregs · 17 strokes
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糕 gāo · cake · 16 strokes
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Related words
Words that share a character with 糟糕.
| 蛋糕 | dàngāo | cake |
| 乱七八糟 | luànqībāzāo | (idiom) chaotic; in disorder; muddled |
| 一团糟 | yītuánzāo | chaos; bungle |
| 糟蹋 | zāotà | to waste; to spoil; to ruin; to wreck |
| 雪糕 | xuěgāo | ice cream bar; ice cream popsicle |
| 糕点 | gāodiǎn | cakes; pastries |
| 乱糟糟 | luànzāozāo | chaotic; topsy turvy |
| 弄糟 | nòngzāo | to spoil; to mess up |
| 年糕 | niángāo | nian gao, New Year cake, typically a sweet, steamed cake made with glutinous rice flour |
Questions about 糟糕
What does 糟糕 mean?
糟糕 (zāogāo) means "too bad; how terrible" and is used as a adjective.
How do you write 糟糕?
糟糕 is made of 2 characters: 糟 (17 strokes), 糕 (16 strokes). That is 33 strokes in total.
Is 糟糕 an HSK word?
Yes. 糟糕 is on the HSK 5 vocabulary list of the HSK 3.0 standard.
How do I say something is "really terrible" with 糟糕?
Add a degree word before it, such as 太糟糕了 (tài zāogāo le) or 非常糟糕 (fēicháng zāogāo). 太糟糕了 is very common as a reaction to bad news.
What is the difference between 糟糕 and 坏 (huài)?
坏 is a basic word for bad or broken and can describe people's character, as in 坏人 (huàirén). 糟糕 focuses on a bad situation or result and works as an exclamation, but it is not normally used to call a person evil.