HSK 5 · Verbs

搞 gǎo “to do” in Chinese

Same in Traditional

What 搞 means

  1. to do
  2. to make
  3. to go in for
  4. to set up
  5. to get hold of
More meanings from CC-CEDICT
  • to take care of

How to say 搞

  • Pitch chart of the third tone: dips low then rises, 2 to 1 to 4 on the five-level scale搞gǎo3rd tone, dipping

搞 in a sentence

  1. 我搞明白了会告诉你。

    Wǒ gǎo míngbai le huì gàosu nǐ.

    I’ll let you know once I’ve worked it out.

    Sentence #5907622 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

  2. 我不想把简单的事情搞复杂。

    Wǒ bù xiǎng bǎ jiǎndān de shìqing gǎo fùzá.

    I don’t want to take a simple thing and make it complicated.

    Sentence #13885142 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

  3. 我把我的信用卡搞丢了。

    Wǒ bǎ wǒ de xìnyòngkǎ gǎo diū le.

    I’ve lost my credit card.

    Sentence #10314340 from Tatoeba · converted to simplified characters · translation adapted

How 搞 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 搞 (gǎo) with each of its parts in a different colour
搞gǎoto do
  • 扌hand form of 手 · shǒuMeaning part
  • 高tall · gāoSound part

扌 hints at the meaning (hand); 高 (gāo) hints at the sound. Compare it with gǎo.

How to write 搞

搞 13 strokes

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

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

Words related to 搞

More words: Common Verbs

改善gǎishàn · to make better改正gǎizhèng · to correct盖gài · lid干活儿gànhuór · to work公开gōngkāi · open贡献gòngxiàn · to contribute构成gòuchéng · to constitute鼓舞gǔwǔ · to inspire

FAQs

搞 (gǎo) means “to do” or “to make”. It is an HSK 5 word.
Say it gǎo: gǎo with a 3rd tone. Press Listen at the top of this page to hear it, or Slowly to hear each tone clearly.
Yes. 搞 is written the same way in Simplified and Traditional characters.
Add a Chinese (Simplified) pinyin keyboard to your phone or computer, type gao with no tone marks or spaces, then choose 搞 from the suggestions. Typing gao into this dictionary’s search box finds it too.
搞 is an HSK 5 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 from Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR). Character parts and stroke order from Make Me a Hanzi.