Meaning of 高
Definitions from CC-CEDICT.
- high
- tall
- above average
- loud
- your (honorific)
- surname Gao
How to use 高
高 describes height of people and things, and also levels, prices, and volume, as in 声音很高 (shēngyīn hěn gāo) for a loud or high voice. It appears in many common words like 高兴 (gāoxìng, happy) and 提高 (tígāo, to raise). Example: 他很高。(Tā hěn gāo.) He is very tall.
高 (gāo) looks like a tall tower: a little roof on top, a window 口 in the middle, and a wide base with another 口 inside. Picture a multi-story building rising high above the street.
Common mistake: Learners often use 大 (dà) for tall people, but 他很大 means he is big or old, not tall; use 他很高 for height. Also do not confuse 高 with 亮 (liàng), which shares the top part but has 几 at the bottom instead of the frame with 口.
高 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.
高 gāo · high · 10 strokes
- 1
- 2
- 3
- 4
- 5
- 6
- 7
- 8
- 9
- 10
Related words
Words that share a character with 高.
| 高兴 | gāoxìng | happy; glad |
| 高中 | gāozhōng | senior high school (abbr. for 高級中學|高级中学[gao1 ji2 zhong1 xue2]) |
| 提高 | tígāo | to raise; to increase |
| 高级 | gāojí | high level; high grade |
| 高速公路 | gāosù gōnglù | expressway; highway; freeway |
| 高速 | gāosù | high speed; expressway (abbr. for 高速公路[gao1 su4 gong1 lu4]) |
| 跳高 | tiàogāo | (athletics) high jump |
| 高潮 | gāocháo | high tide; high water; upsurge; peak of activity |
| 高尚 | gāoshàng | noble; lofty |
| 身高 | shēngāo | (a person's) height |
| 高价 | gāojià | high price |
| 高铁 | gāotiě | high speed rail |
Questions about 高
What does 高 mean?
高 (gāo) means "high; tall" and is used as a adjective.
How do you write 高?
高 is made of 1 character: 高 (10 strokes). That is 10 strokes in total.
Is 高 an HSK word?
Yes. 高 is on the HSK 1 vocabulary list of the HSK 3.0 standard.
Why does 高兴 mean happy if 高 means high?
In 高兴 (gāoxìng), 高 suggests high spirits, much like the English phrase. The word as a whole simply means happy or glad, and it is one of the first words learners meet.
How do I ask how tall someone is using 高?
You can say 你多高？(Nǐ duō gāo?) How tall are you? A typical answer gives the height in meters, such as 一米八 (yī mǐ bā), 1.8 meters.