| cáo | a company/a class/a generation/surname Cao |
| 曹 | surname Cao Zhou Dynasty vassal state |
| 曹不兴 | Cao Buxing or Ts'ao Pu-hsing (active c. 210-250), famous semi-legendary painter, one of the Four Great Painters of the Six dynasties 六朝四大家 |
| 曹丕 | Cao Pi (187-226), second son of Cao Cao 曹操, king then emperor of Cao Wei 曹魏 from 220, ruled as Emperor Wen 魏文帝, also a noted calligrapher |
| 曹余章 | Cao Yuzhang (1924-), modern writer and publisher, author of narrative history 上下五千年 |
| 曹刚川 | Cao Gangchuan (1935-), former artillery officer, senior PRC politician and army leader |
| 曹县 | Cao county in Heze 菏澤|菏泽 |
| 曹操 | Cao Cao (155-220), famous statesman and general at the end of Han, noted poet and calligrapher, later warlord, founder and first king of Cao Wei 曹魏, father of Emperor Cao Pi 曹丕 the main villain of novel the Romance of Three Kingdoms 三國演義|三国演义 |
| 曹植 | Cao Zhi (192-232), son of Cao Cao 曹操, noted poet and calligrapher |
| 曹禺 | Cao Yu (1910-1997), PRC dramatist |
| 曹锟 | Cao Kun (1862-1938), one of the Northern Warlords |
| 曹雪芹 | Cao Xueqin (c. 1715-c. 1764), accepted author of Dream of Red Mansions 紅樓夢|红楼梦 |
| 曹靖华 | Cao Jinghua (1897-1987), translator from Russian, professor of Beijing University and essayist |
| 曹魏 | Cao Wei, the most powerful of the Three Kingdoms, established as a dynasty in 220 by Cao Pi 曹丕, son of Cao Cao, replaced by Jin dynasty in 265 |