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炒股 (chǎo gǔ) — to speculate in stocks, to trade stocks for short-term profit

Definition

炒股 means 'to speculate/trade stocks' for short-term gain — used as a verb phrase. The 单字 炒 also covers food (stir-fry) and hype (炒新闻), so context disambiguates; 投机 is more literary and generalizes to any market speculation.

verb
to speculate in stocks, to trade stocks for short-term profit

Examples

  • ，。
    Tā chǎo guò gǔ, dàn méi zhuàn dào qián.
    He speculated in stocks but didn't make money.
  • 炒股。
    Zuì jìn hěn duō rén dōu zài chǎo gǔ.
    Recently many people are trading stocks.
  • 炒股。
    chǎo gǔ Xū yào yí dìng de zhī shi hé jīng yàn.
    Stock speculation requires certain knowledge and experience.

Origin

Compound word
构词法gòucífǎ
动宾dòngbīnVerb + object

An action followed by what it acts on, fused into one word.

炒chǎospeculate
股gǔshares

炒 suggests quick buying and selling, and 股 means shares, so together they mean to trade stocks for short-term profit.

Characters in this word

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
火火huǒ
Sound part声符shēngfú
少
少shǎo炒chǎo
Close in sound todayThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

The shape combines 火 (fire) as the meaning part with 少 as the sound part.

Open 炒 →

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

In 股, the left 肉 marks the body. The right side, now written 殳, comes from 夃, an old form for thigh, and gives the sound.

Open 股 →
Appears in
HSK 3.0 Level 6

Browse more HSK 6 words or search the full 43,000-word dictionary.