HSK 6 · Work

操劳 cāoláo “to work hard” in Chinese

Traditional 操勞

What 操劳 means

  1. to work hard
  2. to toil
  3. to look after

How to say 操劳

  • Pitch chart of the first tone: stays high and level, 5 to 5 on the five-level scale操cāo1st tone, high and level
  • Pitch chart of the second tone: rises from mid to high, 3 to 5 on the five-level scale劳láo2nd tone, rising

操劳 in a sentence

  1. 妈妈为了这个家操劳了一辈子。

    Māma wèile zhè ge jiā cāoláo le yíbèizi.

    Mum has worked hard for this family all her life.

    Sentence by WillyChina

  2. 您年纪大了，别太操劳了。

    Nín niánjì dà le, bié tài cāoláo le.

    You’re not young any more. Don’t overwork yourself.

    Sentence by WillyChina

How 操劳 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 操 (cāo) with each of its parts in a different colour
操cāoto grasp
  • 扌hand form of 手 · shǒuMeaning part
  • 喿the sound of birds chirping · sàoSound part

扌 hints at the meaning (hand); 喿 (sào) hints at the sound. Compare it with cāo.

The character 劳 (láo) with each of its parts in a different colour
劳láoto toil; labour
  • 艹grass form of 艸 · cǎo
  • 冖cover · mì
  • 力strength · lì

How to write 操劳

操 16 strokes · 劳 7 strokes

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

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

Words related to 操劳

Words with 操

操场cāochǎng · playground操心cāoxīn · to worry about操练cāoliàn · to drill操纵cāozòng · to control操作cāozuò · to operate

Words with 劳

疲劳píláo · tired劳动láodòng · work劳驾láojià · excuse me勤劳qínláo · hardworking功劳gōngláo · credit

More words: Work & Career

报销bàoxiāo · to claim reimbursement备忘录bèiwànglù · memorandum才干cáigàn · ability裁员cáiyuán · to cut staff策划cèhuà · to plan承办chéngbàn · to undertake承包chéngbāo · to contract筹备chóubèi · to prepare

FAQs

操劳 (cāoláo) means “to work hard” or “to toil”. It is an HSK 6 word.
Say it cāoláo: cāo with a 1st tone, then láo with a 2nd tone. Press Listen at the top of this page to hear it, or Slowly to hear each tone clearly.
In Traditional characters, used in Taiwan and Hong Kong, 操劳 is written 操勞. The pronunciation is the same.
Add a Chinese (Simplified) pinyin keyboard to your phone or computer, type caolao with no tone marks or spaces, then choose 操劳 from the suggestions. Typing caolao into this dictionary’s search box finds it too.
操劳 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.