镐 (gǎo): pickaxe; pick (mining/digging t…

Meanings

1 pickaxe; pick (mining/digging tool)
2 Hao - the Western Zhou capital 镐京 near modern-day Xi'an

Characters

镐

gǎo

pickaxe (also read hào: ancient capital)

Examples

HSK 6

镐京是西周的都城。

Hào jīng shì Xīzhōu de dūchéng.

Haojing was the capital of the Western Zhou Dynasty.

HSK 7-9

工人用镐刨开冻土。

Gōngrén yòng gǎo páo kāi dòngtǔ.

The worker broke through the frozen soil with a pickaxe.

Tips

mistakes

Two readings, two meanings: gǎo = pickaxe (everyday tool word, often expanded to 镐头); hào = the Zhou-dynasty capital 镐京. Get them confused at your peril - context usually makes it obvious which is meant.

history

镐京, located southwest of present-day Xi'an, was the capital of the Western Zhou Dynasty (c. 1046-771 BCE). It was sacked by the Quanrong people in 771 BCE, forcing the Zhou court east to Luoyang and ending the Western Zhou.

Components

radical

钅 jīn

metal; gold

钅 is the left-side simplified metal radical (金 in standalone form). It marks 镐 as a metal tool - most commonly a pickaxe, the heavy iron-headed implement for breaking ground. Family includes 锹 (spade), 锤 (hammer), 锯 (saw); all share the metal-tool radical and the worker's-implement sense.

phonetic

高 gāo

tall; high

高 on the right supplies the sound - initial preserved, rime preserved, tone shifted to third (gǎo). Same phonetic powers 稿 (manuscript), 搞 (do), 篙 (punt-pole), 膏 (paste). 镐 also reads Hào in placenames (镐京, the early Zhou capital), keeping the gāo reading directly.