兆 (zhào) is a Chinese character meaning “omen”. It is written from 儿 (child; legs) and 冫 (ice; two dots of ice) and ㇒ (left-falling stroke) and ㇔ (dot stroke), and takes 6 strokes.
Build the character for “omen — the sign of what is coming”
Four steps: break it apart, build it, recall it, use it in a word.
StartLearn this character
Structure
儿 + 冫 + ㇒ + ㇔
Overlapping structure
- 儿 child; legs · ér unknown
- 冫 ice; two dots of ice · bīng unknown
- ㇒ left-falling stroke unknown
- ㇔ dot stroke unknown
Structure from: hanzi-writer-data 2.0.1 modern glyph inspection (six strokes: 撇 / 点 / 提 / 竖弯钩 / 撇 / 点); outer 撇 + 竖弯钩 render as the 儿 frame, inner left pair as 冫 — shape grouping only, not etymology
Memory aid
Two legs (儿) stand far apart, and the gap between them cracks: two frost marks (冫) on the left, a stray 撇 and 点 on the right. 兆 is the crack that tells you what is coming — an omen.
This is a memory aid, not the historical origin.
Stroke order
6 strokes
In real words
- 预兆yù zhàoomen; sign; portent兆 = zhào
- 征兆zhēng zhàosign; indication; portent兆 = zhào
Go deeper
All readings
omen; sign
omen; sign of something about to happen; to foretell; (in units) mega-
事情发生前显露出来的迹象；也用作计量单位的词头，表示「百万」（如兆瓦）。 — studyhanzi 编写
Words with this reading
- 预兆yù zhàoomen; sign; portent兆 = zhào
- 征兆zhēng zhàosign; indication; portent兆 = zhào
Stroke data: hanzi-writer-data (Arphic Public License) · licenses & attributions
Questions people ask about this character
What does 兆 mean?
兆 (zhào) means omen; sign of something about to happen; to foretell; (in units) mega-.
How do you pronounce 兆?
It is pronounced zhào.
What parts is 兆 made of?
儿 (child; legs) and 冫 (ice; two dots of ice) and ㇒ (left-falling stroke) and ㇔ (dot stroke). The recorded source is: hanzi-writer-data 2.0.1 modern glyph inspection (six strokes: 撇 / 点 / 提 / 竖弯钩 / 撇 / 点); outer 撇 + 竖弯钩 render as the 儿 frame, inner left pair as 冫 — shape grouping only, not etymology. Components are the building blocks of the shape; the radical used for dictionary lookup is a separate thing.
How many strokes does 兆 have?
6. You can watch the stroke order on this page, or trace it yourself.
What is the radical of 兆?
儿. The radical is how the character is filed in a dictionary — it is not the whole story of how the character is built.
What words use 兆?
Common ones are 预兆 and 征兆. The reading of 兆 is not the same in every word, so each word on this page shows which reading applies.