Pinyin chart · rao
How to say rao
rao in its 3 tones, said in a female or a male voice. Tap a tone to hear it.
rao
Tap a tone to hear it; tap it again to hear it slower.
How to say it
r: The tongue curls back as for sh, but the voice is on: between the s in “pleasure” and the r in “run”.
ao: ao is close to the “ow” of “cow”.
Its tones
ráo 饶 to forgive · rǎo 扰 to disturb · rào 绕 to wind. rāo isn’t used in standard Mandarin. The pinyin trainer practices telling them apart in real words.
Sounds near it
Learners often mix rao up with these. Listen to them one after the other.
Words with rao
The voices are generated speech (ElevenLabs), the same two the app’s word cards use, each tone said as one real word. The words are from the official HSK list (the exam’s 2025 syllabus), easiest first. Every syllable is on the pinyin chart.