HSK 4 · Objects

牙膏 yágāo “toothpaste” in Chinese

Same in Traditional

What 牙膏 means

  1. toothpaste

Measure word 管 guǎn · 一管牙膏 yì guǎn yágāo

How to say 牙膏

  • Pitch chart of the second tone: rises from mid to high, 3 to 5 on the five-level scale牙yá2nd tone, rising
  • Pitch chart of the first tone: stays high and level, 5 to 5 on the five-level scale膏gāo1st tone, high and level

牙膏 in a sentence

  1. 在哪儿我能找到牙膏？

    Zài nǎr wǒ néng zhǎodào yágāo?

    Where can I find toothpaste?

    Sentence #392232 from Tatoeba

  2. 请买条牙膏吧。

    Qǐng mǎi tiáo yágāo ba.

    Please buy a tube of toothpaste.

    Sentence #884631 from Tatoeba · converted to simplified characters

  3. 大多数牙膏里含有氟化物。

    Dàduōshù yágāo lǐ hányǒu fúhuàwù.

    Most toothpastes contain fluoride.

    Sentence #4456358 from Tatoeba

How 牙膏 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 牙 (yá) drawn as one shape
牙yátooth

牙 is a single shape of 4 strokes. Learn it whole, then watch its stroke order below.

Memory aidDrawn from upper and lower teeth meeting: tooth.

The character 膏 (gāo) with each of its parts in a different colour
膏gāoointment
  • 高tall · gāoSound part
  • ⺼meat form of 肉 · ròuMeaning part

⺼ hints at the meaning (meat); 高 (gāo) hints at the sound. Compare it with gāo.

How to write 牙膏

牙 4 strokes · 膏 14 strokes

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

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

Words related to 牙膏

Words with 牙

牙yá · tooth刷牙shuāyá · brush one’s teeth牙刷yáshuā · toothbrush牙齿yáchǐ · tooth

More words: Everyday Things

信心xìnxīn · confidence性别xìngbié · gender性格xìnggé · nature压力yālì · pressure样子yàngzi · appearance钥匙yàoshi · key印象yìnxiàng · impression羽毛球yǔmáoqiú · shuttlecock

FAQs

牙膏 (yágāo) means “toothpaste”. It is an HSK 4 word.
Say it yágāo: yá with a 2nd tone, then gāo with a 1st tone. Press Listen at the top of this page to hear it, or Slowly to hear each tone clearly.
Yes. 牙膏 is written the same way in Simplified and Traditional characters.
Use 管 (guǎn). For example, one toothpaste is 一管牙膏 (yì guǎn yágāo).
Add a Chinese (Simplified) pinyin keyboard to your phone or computer, type yagao with no tone marks or spaces, then choose 牙膏 from the suggestions. Typing yagao into this dictionary’s search box finds it too.
牙膏 is an HSK 4 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.