How to write 高 (gāo, “high”)

高 (gāo), an HSK 1 character, means “high”, “tall” and “above average”. It is a picture-like character. On its own it is an HSK 2 word; it also forms 高兴 (“happy”), 高中 (“senior high school”) and 身高 (“(a person's) height”). Japanese reads it kou, “tall”, as a JLPT N5 kanji.

Pinyin: gāo
Strokes: 10
HSK: 1
Radical: 高 (“high”)

Stroke by stroke

As a top-middle-bottom character it splits into 亠 (“lid”), strokes 1–2; 口 (“mouth”), strokes 3–5; 冋 (“desert”), strokes 6–10, written the top first.

Vertical ㇑topdown and right
Horizontal ㇐top leftrightwards
Vertical ㇑top leftdownwards
Horizontal-turn ㇕toprightwards → down and left
Horizontal ㇐centerrightwards
Vertical ㇑leftdownwards
Horizontal-turn-hook ㇆leftrightwards → downwards
Vertical ㇑leftdownwards
Horizontal-turn ㇕centerrightwards → downwards
Horizontal ㇐bottomrightwards

Names of the strokes

Japanese and Chinese

Japanese and Chinese draw all 10 strokes in the same order and direction, by our stroke-by-stroke comparison.

Japanese · KanjiVG · 10 strokes

Chinese · Make Me a Hanzi · 10 strokes

Where 高 comes from

A tall palace

Trace it

Follow the numbers. Tracing help

Pinyin and meaning

Pinyin	Meanings	Traditional	In words
gāo first tone	high; tall; above average; loud; your (honorific)	—	高兴高中身高高铁

HSK 2025 syllabus: level 1
2021 standard: level 1
HSK 2.0: in a level 1 word
Words with it: 425 in CC-CEDICT

Words with 高

Word	Pinyin	Meaning
高	gāo	high; tall HSK 2
高兴高興	gāoxìng	happy; glad HSK 1
高中	gāozhōng	senior high school (abbr. for 高级中学 (gāojízhōngxué)) HSK 2
身高	shēngāo	(a person's) height HSK 3
高铁高鐵	gāotiě	high speed rail HSK 3
提高	tígāo	to raise; to increase HSK 3
高考	gāokǎo	college entrance exam… HSK 4
高于高於	gāoyú	greater than; to exceed HSK 4
高价高價	gāojià	high price HSK 4
高温高溫	gāowēn	high temperature HSK 4

HSK words first (CC-CEDICT).

Practice sheet

Print at 100%. Several characters: worksheet maker.

Keep going

HSK 1, in list order: