gaokao means the National Higher Education Entrance Examination held annually in China as a prerequisite for entrance into most forms of higher education. Lexicurio rates it Sui generis — a strength score of 85 out of 100.
gaokao is pronounced /ɡaʊˈkaʊ/.
Why “gaokao” is a great word
GAOKAO — [Noun] The National Higher Education Entrance Examination, the monolithic, state-administered test in China whose score is the sole determinant for university admission. From the Hanyu Pinyin romanization of Mandarin 高考 (gāokǎo), literally meaning 'higher [education] [entrance] examination'. Unlike the SAT—a single component in a holistic American admissions dossier—or the generic concept of an entrance examination, the gaokao is a nation-defining event. It is the palpable tension in ten million silent halls, the frantic scratch of pencils in a cavernous room, and the single score that collapses a decade of labor into a defining number—the brutal and efficient machinery of meritocracy, turning youthful potential into a quantified fate.
Etymology
From the Hanyu Pinyin romanization of Mandarin 高考 (gāokǎo, literally “higher [education] [entrance] examination”).
noun
- The National Higher Education Entrance Examination held annually in China as a prerequisite for entrance into most forms of higher education.“In recent years, education officials have made a number of proposals, including revising elementary and middle school textbooks to increase the proportion of guoxue, or the study of Chinese culture, and reducing the importance of English on some versions of the gaokao, or university entrance examination, in favor of a greater emphasis on the Chinese language.”