HSK 6 · Verbs

琢磨 zuómo “to ponder” in Chinese

Same in Traditional

What 琢磨 means

  1. to ponder
  2. to think over
  3. to mull over
  4. to think through

How to say 琢磨

  • Pitch chart of the second tone: rises from mid to high, 3 to 5 on the five-level scale琢zuó2nd tone, rising
  • Pitch chart of the neutral tone: short and light, with no contour of its own磨moneutral tone, light and short

Grey pinyin is a neutral tone: say it short and light. More on the neutral tone

琢磨 in a sentence

  1. 这个问题我琢磨了很久。

    Zhè ge wèntí wǒ zuómo le hěn jiǔ.

    I’ve been mulling over this question for a long time.

    Sentence by WillyChina

  2. 你琢磨琢磨，他为什么这么说？

    Nǐ zuómo zuómo, tā wèishénme zhème shuō?

    Think about it: why would he say that?

    Sentence by WillyChina

How 琢磨 is built

Each colour is one part of the character. Parts repeat across thousands of characters, so learning them makes new words easier. See all 214 in our radicals chart.

The character 琢 (zuó) with each of its parts in a different colour
琢zuóTaiwan pr.
  • 王king · wángMeaning part
  • 豖a shackled pig · chùSound part

王 hints at the meaning (king); 豖 (chù) hints at the sound. Compare it with zuó.

The character 磨 (mo) with each of its parts in a different colour
磨moto rub
  • 麻hemp · máSound part
  • 石stone · shíMeaning part

石 hints at the meaning (stone); 麻 (má) hints at the sound. Compare it with mo.

How to write 琢磨

琢 12 strokes · 磨 16 strokes

Watch the order, then press Try writing it and draw each stroke in the grid. Each stroke is checked as you go.

琢磨 (zuómo) stroke order chart: each stroke of the characters in the order you write them
Stroke order chart for 琢磨 (zuómo). Red marks the next stroke, so you can copy it onto paper one step at a time.

Words related to 琢磨

Words with 磨

磨合móhé · to break in折磨zhémo · to torment

More words: Thinking & Talking

必须bìxū · must担心dānxīn · to worry放心fàngxīn · relax着想zhuóxiǎng · to consider (the needs of)着重zhuózhòng · to emphasise注重zhùzhòng · to emphasise走漏zǒulòu · to leak (information)做主zuòzhǔ · to make the decision

FAQs

琢磨 (zuómo) means “to ponder” or “to think over”. It is an HSK 6 word.
Say it zuómo: zuó with a 2nd tone, then mo with a neutral tone. Press Listen at the top of this page to hear it, or Slowly to hear each tone clearly.
Yes. 琢磨 is written the same way in Simplified and Traditional characters.
Add a Chinese (Simplified) pinyin keyboard to your phone or computer, type zuomo with no tone marks or spaces, then choose 琢磨 from the suggestions. Typing zuomo into this dictionary’s search box finds it too.
琢磨 is an HSK 6 word in the HSK 2.0 word lists.

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Sources: meaning and pinyin checked by a native Mandarin teacher against the official HSK lists. Extra meanings from CC-CEDICT (CC BY-SA 4.0). Example sentences written by WillyChina. Character parts and stroke order from Make Me a Hanzi.