to applaud; clap
HSK level
鼓掌 is written with 25 strokes (鼓: 13, 掌: 12). The animation replays automatically.
鼓掌 (gǔzhǎng) is a verb meaning to applaud or clap — to strike the palms together to show approval, welcome, or appreciation, typically at performances, speeches, or ceremonies.
It is a separable verb (离合词): the two characters can be split, as in 鼓了掌 'clapped' or 鼓一次掌 'give a round of applause,' which surprises English speakers used to treating 'applaud' as one solid word. Because it already contains 掌 ('palm'), you never add an object like 'hands' — saying 鼓掌手 is wrong. It differs from English 'clap' in being tied to the social act of applause; casually clapping to a beat or to get attention is 拍手 (pāishǒu), not 鼓掌.
Common in the phrase 鼓掌欢迎 'applaud in welcome.' Register is neutral.
Character by character
Memory hook: 鼓 (beat) + 掌 (palm) — beat your palms together to applaud.
大家为她热烈鼓掌。
Dàjiā wèi tā rèliè gǔzhǎng.
Everyone applauded her warmly.
neutral
表演结束后，观众都鼓起掌来。
Biǎoyǎn jiéshù hòu, guānzhòng dōu gǔ qǐ zhǎng lái.
After the performance, the audience broke into applause.
neutral
让我们鼓掌欢迎下一位嘉宾。
Ràng wǒmen gǔzhǎng huānyíng xià yí wèi jiābīn.
Let's applaud to welcome our next guest.
spoken
他的发言赢得了全场的鼓掌。
Tā de fāyán yíngdé le quánchǎng de gǔzhǎng.
His speech won applause from the whole audience.
written
拍手 is the general physical act of clapping hands (to a rhythm, in delight, to catch attention). 鼓掌 specifically means applause to show approval at a formal or public occasion.
拍照 means to take a photo — it shares 拍 with 拍手 but has nothing to do with clapping. Don't let the shared character confuse you.
Acquire it by listening
Fluentide turns real news into Chinese listening at your exact level, so words like 鼓掌 show up again and again in natural sentences — with pinyin and translation every time. No flashcards. Free to start.
