HSK 6 · Adjectives
枯燥 kūzào “dull” in Chinese
Same in Traditional
What 枯燥 means
- dull
- boring
- dry
- dry and dull
- uninteresting
More meanings from CC-CEDICT
- tedious
How to say 枯燥
枯kū1st tone, high and level
燥zào4th tone, falling
枯燥 in a sentence
How 枯燥 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.

枯kūwithered
- 木tree · mù
- 古old · gǔ

燥zàodry; parched
- 火fire · huǒMeaning part
- 喿the sound of birds chirping · sàoSound part
火 hints at the meaning (fire); 喿 (sào) hints at the sound. Compare it with zào.
How to write 枯燥
枯 9 strokes · 燥 17 strokes
Watch the order, then press Try writing it and draw each stroke in the grid. Each stroke is checked as you go.

Words related to 枯燥
Words with 枯
Words with 燥
More words: Adjectives
FAQs
枯燥 (kūzào) means “dull” or “boring”. It is an HSK 6 word.
Say it kūzào: kū with a 1st tone, then zào with a 4th tone. Press Listen at the top of this page to hear it, or Slowly to hear each tone clearly.
Yes. 枯燥 is written the same way in Simplified and Traditional characters.
Add a Chinese (Simplified) pinyin keyboard to your phone or computer, type kuzao with no tone marks or spaces, then choose 枯燥 from the suggestions. Typing kuzao into this dictionary’s search box finds it too.
枯燥 is an HSK 6 word in the HSK 2.0 word lists.
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.