曹操 (Cáo Cāo) — Cao Cao (historical figure from the Three Kingd…

Definition

Cao Cao (155–220 AD) was the warlord who effectively controlled the late Han court and laid the foundation of the kingdom of Wei. In Chinese culture he is famous as a brilliant but ruthless strategist — a common subject in idioms and 三国演义.

noun

Cao Cao (historical figure from the Three Kingdoms period)

Examples

曹操。
Cáo Cāo Shì zhōng guó lì shǐ shàng fēi cháng yǒu míng de rén wù.
Cao Cao is a very famous figure in Chinese history.
曹操。
Sān guó yǎn yì lǐ bǎ Cáo Cāo xiě chéng le yí gè duō yí de rén.
In Romance of the Three Kingdoms, Cao Cao is portrayed as a suspicious person.
曹操。
Hěn duō xué zhě rèn wéi Cáo Cāo shì yí wèi jié chū de zhèng zhì jiā hé jūn shì jiā.
Many scholars consider Cao Cao an outstanding statesman and military strategist.

Origin

Characters in this word

Two or more meaningful parts placed together so that their meanings combine into a new one.

The early form showed two bundles side by side, meaning a pair or same kind. Later, a mark was added and the top changed into the shape now seen in 曹.

Open 曹 →

Most characters — around four in five — are built this way: one part hints at the meaning, the other at the pronunciation.

Meaning part形符xíngfú

手手shǒuhand

Sound part声符shēngfú

喿

喿zào操cāo

Close in sound todayThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

The left part 手 shows a hand, indicating an action done by hand. The right part 喿 gives the sound.

Open 操 →

Appears in

History