The Mandarin Chinese character zǎo 早 is a pictogram of the sun - 日 rì (radical #72) rising over a soldier’s helmet 十.
The character 十 is an old form of jiǎ 甲, which now can mean “first” or “armor.” Therefore another way of interpreting zǎo 早 is “the first sun.”
Zǎo means “morning.” It is used as a noun and can also be used as a greeting.
Mandarin Vocabulary with Zǎo
Click the links to hear the audio files.
| Pinyin | Characters | Meaning |
| Zǎo ān | 早安 | good morning |
| Zǎo fàn | 早飯 | breakfast |
| Zǎo shang | 早上 | early morning |
| Zǎo xiān | 早先 | previously; before |
| Zǎo yǐ | 早已 | long ago; for a long time |
