HSK 5 · Verbs

鼓掌 gǔzhǎng “to applaud” in Chinese

Said as gúzhǎng

Same in Traditional

What 鼓掌 means

  1. to applaud
  2. to clap

How to say 鼓掌

  • Pitch chart of the third tone: dips low then rises, 2 to 1 to 4 on the five-level scale鼓gǔ3rd tone, dipping
  • Pitch chart of the third tone: dips low then rises, 2 to 1 to 4 on the five-level scale掌zhǎng3rd tone, dipping

Said as gúzhǎng. When two third tones meet, the first one rises into a second tone. You still write it with two third tones. How tone changes work

鼓掌 in a sentence

  1. 所有的观众都站起来鼓掌。

    Suǒyǒu de guānzhòng dōu zhàn qǐlai gǔzhǎng.

    The whole audience stood up and applauded.

    Sentence #2394584 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

  2. 我们为表演者鼓掌。

    Wǒmen wèi biǎoyǎnzhě gǔzhǎng.

    We applauded the performer.

    Sentence #332932 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

  3. 我进屋的时候，他们都鼓掌了。

    Wǒ jìn wū de shíhou, tāmen dōu gǔzhǎng le.

    When I came into the room, they all applauded.

    Sentence #718435 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

How 鼓掌 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 鼓 (gǔ) with each of its parts in a different colour
鼓gǔdrum
  • 壴drum · zhùMeaning part
  • 支branch · zhīSound part

壴 hints at the meaning (drum); 支 (zhī) hints at the sound. Compare it with gǔ.

The character 掌 (zhǎng) with each of its parts in a different colour
掌zhǎngpalm of the hand
  • 尚still · shàngSound part
  • 手hand · shǒuMeaning part

手 hints at the meaning (hand); 尚 (shàng) hints at the sound. Compare it with zhǎng.

How to write 鼓掌

鼓 13 strokes · 掌 12 strokes

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

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

Words related to 鼓掌

Words with 鼓

鼓励gǔlì · to encourage鼓舞gǔwǔ · to inspire鼓动gǔdòng · to stir up

Words with 掌

掌握zhǎngwò · to master

More words: Common Verbs

等于děngyú · to equal滴dī · a drop递dì · to hand over断duàn · to break戒jiè · to give up (a habit)集合jíhé · to gather看望kànwàng · to visit靠kào · to lean on

FAQs

鼓掌 (gǔzhǎng) means “to applaud” or “to clap”. It is an HSK 5 word.
Say it gǔzhǎng: gǔ with a 3rd tone, then zhǎng with a 3rd tone. In speech it sounds like gúzhǎng. When two third tones meet, the first one rises into a second tone. You still write it with two third tones. Press Listen at the top of this page to hear it, or Slowly to hear each tone clearly.
Yes. 鼓掌 is written the same way in Simplified and Traditional characters.
Add a Chinese (Simplified) pinyin keyboard to your phone or computer, type guzhang with no tone marks or spaces, then choose 鼓掌 from the suggestions. Typing guzhang into this dictionary’s search box finds it too.
鼓掌 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.