Meaning
early; morning
Chinese: 时间早、早晨。
Hear the Four Tones
The same syllable “zao” becomes a different word in each tone. 早 is the 3rd tone. Tap any tone to hear a native voice and see its pitch shape.
Stroke Order
Tap Animate to watch the strokes in order, or Practice to trace it yourself.
Common Words
- 早上zǎo shangearly morning
- 早饭zǎo fànbreakfast
- 早就zǎo jiùalready at an earlier time
- 早餐zǎo cānbreakfast
- 早晨zǎo chénearly morning
Example Sentence
早上好，今天天气不错。Zǎo shang hǎo, jīn tiān tiān qì bú cuò.Good morning; the weather is nice today.
早上好Zǎo shang hǎoGood morning!，今天jīn tiāntoday天气tiān qìweather不错bú cuòcorrect。
Go deeper
Where this character comes from
The sun (日) shown above the line of a sprout or the ground: the sun already risen — early morning. It means ‘early / morning’.
A way to remember it
The sun already up over the ground — early.
Easy to confuse with
- 草‘Grass’: 早 with the plant radical 艹 on top (早 gives the sound).