高 gāo — tall (of people); high

Meanings

1. 1

   tall (of people); high

   Tall or high in vertical extent. For a person it is the word for height — 你有多高 asks how tall you are — and 高 never describes a price, which is 贵.

   adjective

Character breakdown

• 高

  gāo (first tone, high and level)

  tall, high; (of a level, price or standard) high; Gao, a surname

  10 strokesRadical 高

Example sentences

• 他很高。Tā (first tone, high and level) hěn (third tone, dipping) gāo. (first tone, high and level)···

  He’s tall.

• 你有多高？Nǐ (third tone, dipping) yǒu (third tone, dipping) duō (first tone, high and level) gāo? (first tone, high and level)···

  How tall are you?

Common mistakes

• Not quite这个东西很高。

  Correct这个东西很贵。

  Several languages say a price is "high", but Chinese does not use 高 for what something costs. An expensive object is 贵.

Similar words

Words containing 高

• 提高tígāo (second tone, rising)to raise, to improve (a level or a standard)
• 高兴/高興gāoxìng (first tone, high and level)happy, glad, pleased