Meaning of 高等
Definitions from CC-CEDICT.
- high-level
- higher (animals, education etc)
- advanced (math etc)
How to use 高等
高等 is a formal adjective that usually sits directly before a noun, as in 高等教育 (higher education), 高等数学 (advanced math), and 高等动物 (higher animals). It is common in academic, official, and scientific language. Example: 他在一所高等学校工作。(Tā zài yì suǒ gāoděng xuéxiào gōngzuò.) He works at an institution of higher education.
高 (gāo) means tall or high, and 等 (děng) means rank or grade. Put them together and you get the high grade, the upper level of something.
Common mistake: Learners often use 高等 where 高级 (gāojí) sounds natural. 高级 describes quality or rank in everyday life, as in 高级酒店 (a high-end hotel), while 高等 is mostly limited to fixed terms like education, math, and biology. Also keep 等 in the third tone (děng). Do not flatten it to a neutral tone.
高等 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
等 děng · to wait for · 12 strokes
- 1
- 2
- 3
- 4
- 5
- 6
- 7
- 8
- 9
- 10
- 11
- 12
Related words
Words that share a character with 高等.
| 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]) |
| 等到 | děngdào | to wait until; by the time when (sth is ready etc) |
| 提高 | tígāo | to raise; to increase |
| 高级 | gāojí | high level; high grade |
| 等于 | děngyú | to equal; to be tantamount to |
| 平等 | píngděng | equal; equality |
| 等待 | děngdài | to wait; to wait for |
| 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 |
Questions about 高等
What does 高等 mean?
高等 (gāoděng) means "high-level; higher (animals, education etc)" and is used as a adjective.
How do you write 高等?
高等 is made of 2 characters: 高 (10 strokes), 等 (12 strokes). That is 22 strokes in total.
Is 高等 an HSK word?
Yes. 高等 is on the HSK 6 vocabulary list of the HSK 3.0 standard.
Can I say 很高等 to mean something is very advanced?
Usually not. 高等 works as a classifying adjective placed before a noun, so it rarely takes 很 or appears at the end of a sentence. For a general sense of very advanced or fancy, use 很高级 or 很先进 (xiānjìn) instead.
What is the opposite of 高等?
The usual opposites are 初等 (chūděng, elementary) and 低等 (dīděng, lower). For example, 初等数学 means elementary math, and 低等动物 means lower animals.