GGood Chinese Name

Chinese surname · rank 30

曹

曹 is read as cáo.

Pinyin

cáo

Script forms

Simplified and traditional 曹

Basic meaning

group; class; officials; state of Cao

Five element

Pending review

Origin

Time: Early Western Zhou period; Western Zhou tradition, 1046-771 BCE

Place: State of Cao, commonly associated with today's Dingtao area, Shandong Province

Origin note

A major Cao surname tradition traces the surname to the state of Cao. Cao Shu Zhenduo, a brother of King Wu of Zhou, was enfeoffed at Cao in the early Western Zhou. The Cao state is commonly associated with today's Dingtao area in Shandong Province. Descendants and state people later used Cao as a surname.

Historical figures

曹操 (Cao Cao)

155-220 CE · late Han warlord, statesman and poet

A central figure of the late Eastern Han and Three Kingdoms period, with a lasting historical and literary image.

曹雪芹 (Cao Xueqin)

c. 1715-c. 1763 CE · Qing novelist

Traditionally credited as the author of Dream of the Red Chamber, one of the great Chinese novels.

Sources checked