Dictionary › 早

早

zǎo

Old HSK 2 HSK 3.0 character level 1 Character

早 (zǎo) means "early; morning; Good morning!". It is an HSK 3.0 level 1 word, and was HSK 2 in the old six-level list.

What 早 means

1. early
2. morning
3. Good morning!
4. long ago
5. prematurely

Example sentences

• 早！
  Good morning!
• 早上好。
  Zǎoshanghǎo.
  Good morning.
• 早上好！
  Zǎoshanghǎo!
  Good morning.
• 尽早来。
  Come as soon as possible.
• 尽早做。
  Do it as soon as possible.
• 太早了。
  It is so early.

Words starting with 早

• 早上zǎo shangearly morning
• 早就zǎo jiùalready at an earlier time
• 早已zǎo yǐfor a long time; long since; (dialect) in the past
• 早晨zǎo chénearly morning; also pr. zǎo chen
• 早餐zǎo cānbreakfast
• 早点zǎo diǎnbreakfast
• 早期zǎo qīearly period; early phase; early stage
• 早饭zǎo fànbreakfast
• 早晚zǎo wǎnmorning and evening; (in reference to sth that is bound to happen) sooner or later…
• 早日zǎo rìsoon; at an early date; the early days; the past
• 早起zǎo qǐto get up early
• 早年zǎo niánmany years ago; in the past; in one's early years
• 早报zǎo bàomorning newspaper
• 早先zǎo xiānpreviously; before
• 早熟zǎo shúprecocious; early-maturing
• 早操zǎo cāomorning exercises…
• 早春zǎo chūnearly spring
• 早安zǎo ānGood morning!
• 早退zǎo tuìto leave early (before the stipulated finishing time); to retire early (from one's job)
• 早茶zǎo chámorning tea
• 早出晚归zǎo chū wǎn guīto leave early and return late (idiom)
• 早死zǎo sǐto die while still relatively young; to have been dead (for some years)
• 早逝zǎo shìearly demise; untimely death
• 早点儿zǎo diǎn ra bit earlier

Words containing 早

• 及早jí zǎoat the earliest possible time; as soon as possible
• 一早yī zǎoearly in the morning; at dawn
• 一大早yī dà zǎoat dawn; at first light; first thing in the morning
• 迟早chí zǎosooner or later
• 过早guò zǎopremature; untimely; (dialect) to have breakfast; breakfast
• 尽早jǐn zǎoas early as possible
• 提早tí zǎoahead of schedule; sooner than planned; to bring forward (to an earlier time)
• 清早qīng zǎofirst thing in the morning; at daybreak
• 今早jīn zǎothis morning
• 老早lǎo zǎoa long time ago
• 明早míng zǎotomorrow morning; tomorrow
• 趁早chèn zǎoas soon as possible; at the first opportunity; the sooner the better
• 从早到晚cóng zǎo dào wǎnfrom morning till night; from dawn to dusk; all day long
• 大清早dà qīng zǎoearly in the morning
• 英年早逝yīng nián zǎo shìto die an untimely death (idiom); to be cut off in one's prime
• 起早贪黑qǐ zǎo tān hēito be industrious, rising early and going to bed late
• 一清早yī qīng zǎoearly in the morning
• 赶早gǎn zǎoas soon as possible; at the first opportunity; the sooner the better; before it's too late
• 即早jí zǎoas soon as possible
• 打早dǎ zǎoearlier; long ago; as soon as possible
• 南华早报Nán huá Zǎo bàoSouth China Morning Post (newspaper in Hong Kong)
• 为时过早wéi shí guò zǎopremature; too soon
• 时间不早了shí jiān bù zǎo leit's getting late; time's getting on
• 无利不起早wú lì bù qǐ zǎo(saying) people don't get up early unless there is some benefit in doing so…

Characters that look like 早

Easy to confuse on sight. Compare them side by side once and the pair stops costing you.

• 平píngflat; level; smooth; to make even; to level; equal; on the same level
• 半bànhalf; semi-; incomplete
• 羊yángsheep; goat
• 旱hàndrought
• 孚fúto trust; to believe in
• 芋yùtaro; Colocasia antiquorum; Colocasia esculenta

Sounds the same

Read zǎo, tone for tone, but written differently.

• 澡bath
• 枣(bound form) jujube; Chinese date (Zizyphus jujuba)
• 藻aquatic grasses; elegant
• 蚤flea
• 璪pendant of pearls on coronet
• 薻old variant of 藻

Where 早 is taught

In the GraphChinese course it is part of HSK 2 Characters · Set 12 (HSK 2), each one a topic in the dependency graph of HSK 1–6 that opens only once its prerequisites are solid.

Go deeper

• Every HSK 2 word, with the rest of its level.
• How characters are built from components.
• How to learn Chinese characters.
• The four tones and the neutral tone, to read zǎo correctly.
• Look up another word in the free dictionary.