Phonetic Families & Components

Sound Roots & Semantic Radicals Explorer

Decode Chinese characters by their shared sound roots and see how semantic radicals split their meanings across tones.

Popular Roots:

高

Phonetic Root (声旁 / Sound Core)HSK 1

高 (gāo)

high

View Root Character Page Kangxi #189 (高) · View Radical

Family Characters

HSK Words

Tone Fan-out (高)

How this root's pronunciation drifts across the Mandarin tone spectrum:

5 Active Tones

Tone 1gāo

Tone 2háo

Tone 3gǎo

Tone 4kào

Tone 5

Family Characters (16)

Root: 高

高

gāo

HSK 1

Phonetic Root (声旁 / Sound Core)

high

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搞

gǎo

HSK 5

扌(hand)

to do, to make, to set up

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敲

qiāo

HSK 5

攴(strike)

to knock, strike, or overcharge

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豪

háo

HSK 5

豕(pig)

grand, heroic

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稿

gǎo

HSK 6

禾(grain)

variant of 稿[gao3]

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膏

gāo

HSK 7

⺼(meat)

ointment; paste

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暠

gǎo

Expansion

日(sun)

bright; white

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槀

Expansion

木(tree)

—

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槁

gǎo

Expansion

木(tree)

variant of 槁[gao3]; dried up

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犒

kào

Expansion

牛(cow)

to reward or comfort with presents of food, drink etc

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篙

gāo

Expansion

⺮(bamboo)

pole for punting boats

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縞

Expansion

糹(silk)

—

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缟

gǎo

Expansion

纟(silk)

plain white silk

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蒿

hāo

Expansion

艹(plants)

celery wormwood (Artemisia carvifolia); to give off

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鎬

Expansion

釒(metal)

—

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镐

gǎo

Expansion

钅(metal)

a pick

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