Definition
炒 (chǎo) primarily means 'stir-fry' — cooking quickly in a wok with oil and constant tossing, unlike 煎 (jiān) 'pan-fry' which uses a flat pan and less movement. It also means 'speculate (in stocks)' (compare 投机 tóujī 'speculate' more general; 炒股 chǎogǔ is the specific phrase) and 'hype up' (compare 炒作 chǎozuò 'publicity hype').
verb
to stir-fryto sautéto speculate (in stocks, etc.)to hype (up)to promote aggressively
Easily confused
- 抄chāolook-aliketo copy, to transcribe; to plagiarize
- 超chāosound-aliketo exceed, surpass (a limit, standard, or amount)
- 吵chǎolook-alike(verb) to quarrel; to argue
- 朝cháosound-alike(verb) to face (a direction); to make a pilgrimage to
- 纱shālook-alikecotton yarn
- 潮cháosound-alike(noun) tide
- 妙miàolook-alikeclever; wonderful; ingenious
- 秒miǎolook-alike(classifier) second (unit of time)
Examples
- 炒。Wǒ xuéhuì le chǎo jīdàn.I learned how to stir-fry eggs.
- 。Tā chǎo gǔpiào péi le hěn duō qián.He lost a lot of money speculating in stocks.
- 炒。Méitǐ zài chǎo zhège xīnwén.The media is hyping this news.
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