Shào / zhào
proper noun #5,842

Meanings

  1. 1 Shao (Chinese surname)
  2. 2 Shao (ancient fief in present-day Shaanxi)

Examples

HSK 2
Tā xìng Shào, bú xìng Zhào.
His surname is Shao, not Zhao.
HSK 7-9
Shào gōng shì Zhōucháo zhùmíng de xiánchén.
The Duke of Shao was a renowned worthy minister of the Zhou dynasty.
HSK 7-9
召南诗经
《 Shàonán 》 shì 《 Shījīng 》 lǐ de yī zǔ shī.
Shaonan is a set of poems in the Book of Songs.

Tips

history
The shào reading comes from an old fief in present-day Shaanxi held by , a kinsman of the Zhou royal house who governed the western half of the early realm while held the east. He was remembered for hearing cases in the open under a pear tree that people then refused to cut down, and the 《诗经·召南》 section still carries his name.
mistakes
Read as shào only for the surname, the old fief, and place names built on it such as 召陵. Every ordinary word takes zhào, as in 召开, 召集, 号召.

Components

radical
kǒu
mouth
Bottom indexing radical (mouth). Provides all the meaning: means 'to call, summon' - done with the mouth. Compound layout puts the calling-mouth under the sound-piece. Same radical drives (call), (shout), (cry out). The summoning is verbal, not physical.
phonetic
dāo
knife
Top (knife) supplies a rough sound (dāo → zhào, a heavy initial drift; this phonetic is also seen in zhāo and zhāo). No semantic contribution - the knife is purely there for sound. Same shape underneath , , , .

Stroke Order

Shào