Where the name comes from
Cao is the name of a Zhou duchy, founded when King Wen of Zhou enfeoffed his thirteenth son Zhenduo (曹叔振鐸) at Cao, near modern Dingtao in Shandong; its people later carried the state's name. A separate Chinese line runs through Yan'an (晏安), counted among the eight Zhurong surnames and associated with the state of Zhu. A third is not Chinese at all: Sogdian immigrants from Central Asia adopted Cao as one of the Nine Zhaowu surnames.
The same name, spelled differently
A Chinese surname is a character, not a spelling. The Latin letters on a passport come from whichever dialect the name was written down from — so these are all 曹.
- CaoMandarin — mainland China, Taiwan
- Cho / Tso / ChawCantonese — Hong Kong
- Chou / Chô / ChowHokkien
- Chau / ChowTeochew
- Zau / DzauShanghainese (Wu)
- ChoKorean
The character
Outside a name, 曹 is an ordinary word meaning ministers, officials; a company.
- Strokes
- 11
- Radical
- 曰
- As a word
- cáo