HSK 6 · Verbs

起草 qǐcǎo “to draft” in Chinese

Said as qícǎo

Same in Traditional

What 起草 means

  1. to draft
  2. to draw up
  3. to make a draft
  4. to draw up (plans)

How to say 起草

  • Pitch chart of the third tone: dips low then rises, 2 to 1 to 4 on the five-level scale起qǐ3rd tone, dipping
  • Pitch chart of the third tone: dips low then rises, 2 to 1 to 4 on the five-level scale草cǎo3rd tone, dipping

Said as qícǎo. 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

起草 in a sentence

  1. 这份报告是谁起草的？

    Zhè fèn bàogào shì shéi qǐcǎo de?

    Who drafted this report?

    Sentence by WillyChina

  2. 我正在起草一封给客户的信。

    Wǒ zhèngzài qǐcǎo yì fēng gěi kèhù de xìn.

    I’m drafting a letter to a client.

    Sentence by WillyChina

How 起草 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 起 (qǐ) with each of its parts in a different colour
起qǐto rise
  • 走walk · zǒuMeaning part
  • 己self · jǐSound part

走 hints at the meaning (walk); 己 (jǐ) hints at the sound. Compare it with qǐ.

The character 草 (cǎo) with each of its parts in a different colour
草cǎograss
  • 艹grass form of 艸 · cǎoMeaning part
  • 早early · zǎoSound part

艹 hints at the meaning (grass); 早 (zǎo) hints at the sound. Compare it with cǎo.

How to write 起草

起 10 strokes · 草 9 strokes

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

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

Words related to 起草

Words with 起

对不起duìbuqǐ · sorry一起yìqǐ · together起床qǐchuáng · to get up起qǐ · to rise起飞qǐfēi · take off in an aeroplane起来qǐlai · beginning or continuing an action引起yǐnqǐ · to give rise to看不起kànbuqǐ · to look down upon了不起liǎobuqǐ · amazing起初qǐchū · at first

Words with 草

草cǎo · grass草地cǎodì · lawn草率cǎoshuài · careless草案cǎo'àn · draft (of a law or plan)

More words: Common Verbs

迁就qiānjiù · to accommodate迁徙qiānxǐ · to migrate牵制qiānzhì · to contain翘qiào · to stick up欺负qīfu · to bully起哄qǐhòng · to stir up trouble清除qīngchú · to clear away清理qīnglǐ · to clear up

FAQs

起草 (qǐcǎo) means “to draft” or “to draw up”. It is an HSK 6 word.
Say it qǐcǎo: qǐ with a 3rd tone, then cǎo with a 3rd tone. In speech it sounds like qícǎo. 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. 起草 is written the same way in Simplified and Traditional characters.
Add a Chinese (Simplified) pinyin keyboard to your phone or computer, type qicao with no tone marks or spaces, then choose 起草 from the suggestions. Typing qicao into this dictionary’s search box finds it too.
起草 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.