How to Write 锆 (gào) — Meaning “Zirconium”

Think of "告" as a "call" or "announcement" — imagine a metal (钅) object that announces itself as a special zirconium. Alternatively, picture a metal bell (like a gong) that makes a sound (告) to help you recall the reading gào.

Pay attention to the left radical 钅: it has five strokes, with the last stroke being a horizontal turn and a vertical hook, not a separate stroke. The right part 告 is wider than the left; its top horizontal line should be slightly longer than the middle one, and the bottom mouth is relatively narrow.

锆 specifically names zirconium, a metal used in industry, while 钰 means "treasure" or "precious jade" and 钱 means "money" or "coin." Visually, 锆 has the phonetic component 告 (gào), whereas 钰 has 玉 (yù, jade) and 钱 has 戋 (jiān, small). Their radicals are all 钅, but the right parts differ completely.

锆 appears mostly in technical and scientific contexts, such as chemistry (氧化锆, zirconium oxide) and gemology (锆石, zircon gemstone). It is also found in materials science (锆合金, zirconium alloy) used in nuclear reactors and dental ceramics. This character is not common in everyday conversation.

Common words containing 锆 include: 锆石 (gào shí) — Zircon; 氧化锆 (yǎng huà gào) — Zirconium oxide; 锆合金 (gào hé jīn) — Zirconium alloy.