Chinese word

超

Pronunciation

Pinyinchāo

Meaning

  • adverbsuper

Example

这件衣服超好看。zhè jiàn yī fú chāo hǎo kàn

This outfit looks super nice.

Illustration for 超 (super)

More examples

这道题超难，我又花了半小时才做完。zhè dào tí chāo nán wǒ yòu huā le bàn xiǎo shí cái zuò wán

This problem was super hard, and I only finished it after another half hour.

Core concept

Pushes a quality or action past the ordinary level into an especially strong degree.

Common phrases

  • 超好看chāo hǎo kàn

    super cute

  • 超高兴chāo gāo xìng

    super happy

  • 超难chāo nán

    super hard

Similar words

很hěn: Plainly indicates that a quality or action has a high degree.
非常fēi cháng: Strongly and formally indicates an extremely high degree.
太tài: Expresses strong feeling about a degree that is excessive.
特别tè bié: Stresses an especially high degree in a specific respect.

Definition in Chinese

口语中常用作副词，位于形容词或动词前以强化程度，属于非正式的程度副词。kóu yǔ zhōng cháng yòng zuò fù cí wèi yú xíng róng cí huò dòng cí qián yǐ qiáng huà chéng dù shǔ yú fēi zhèng shì de chéng dù fù cí

Word origin

超 (chāo, "go beyond") develops its adverbial sense from the idea of pushing past a normal degree, so it marks an unusually high degree before adjectives or verbs.

Usage tips

  • In casual Chinese, this short intensifier usually sits immediately before the adjective or verb it modifies, rather than acting like an adjective before a noun.

Opposites

Related words

Word lists with this word