(cháo): to ridicule, to mock, used in 嘲哳

(cháo) is a Chinese character meaning “to ridicule.” Classified as HSK Level 6 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of (semantic) and (phonetic). It ranks #2258 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Etymologically derived, mouth. Its radical form (mouth) appears in many related characters such as (kǒu, mouth), (jiào, to call, to be called), (yòu, (bound form) right).

Native pronunciation

Definitions

  1. to ridicule
  2. to mock
  3. used in 嘲哳

Etymology & Origin

pictophoneticmouth

Decomposition: ⿰口朝 (layout: left-right)

Stroke Order

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15

Practice writing with real-time feedback — trace each stroke in the correct order and build muscle memory in the HanziFeed app.

Words & Compounds

HSK Vocabulary with

WordPinyinMeaningHSK
verbcháo xiàoto jeer at6

Common Compounds

WordPinyinMeaning
cháo nòngto tease
cháo fěngto sneer at
lěng cháo rè fěngfrigid irony and scorching satire (idiom)
zì cháoto mock oneself
jiě cháoto try to cover up in an embarrassing situation
zì wǒ jiě cháoto refer to one's foibles or failings with self-deprecating humor
qún cháo(neologism c. 2011) to deride a group of people
cháo xuèto mock and ridicule
zhāo zhā(onom.) clamorous noise made by numerous people talking or singing, or by musical instruments, or birds twittering
10
Total compounds
50
As first character
40
As last character
10
As middle character

appears in 10 compound words: 50 as the first character, 40 as the last, and 10 in a middle position. Compound statistics computed from SUBTLEX-CH and HSK 3.0 vocabulary data.

Strongest Collocations

Characters that most frequently co-occur with in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.

fěng
0.7196,054 co-occurrences
xiào
0.70620,357 co-occurrences
nòng
0.5884,176 co-occurrences
0.453102 co-occurrences
lěng
0.4341,746 co-occurrences
miè
0.417174 co-occurrences
0.388156 co-occurrences
0.36990 co-occurrences
kǎn
0.36190 co-occurrences
0.36184 co-occurrences

Idioms & Chengyu (2)

lěngcháorèfěngHSK 7+

burning satire and freezing irony; to sarcastically ridicule

phrase
zì wǒ jiě cháoHSK 6+

to refer to one's foibles or failings with self-deprecating humor

phrase

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

干舌燥地讲了两个小时,终于说服了大家。

tā cháo gān jī zào dì jiǎng le liǎng gě xiǎo shí , zhōng yú shuō fú le dà jiā .

He talked for two hours, his voice hoarse and dry, until he finally persuaded everyone.

中国新闻网_梳理天下新闻Mar 2026

...营侧翼鼓噪台军赴霍尔木兹海峡“护航” 被自不量力

. . . yíng cè yì gǔ zào tái jūn fù huò ěr mù zī hǎi xiá hù háng bèi cháo zì bù liàng lì

...Pro-China factions are clamoring for the Taiwanese military to provide "escort" in the Strait of Hormuz, but have been mocked for overreaching

LtnMar 2026

被提珍珠港讽!来宾笑问“是贵台记者?”日女主播尴尬...

bèi tí zhēn zhū gǎng cháo fěng ! lái bīn xiào wèn shì guì tái jì zhě ? rì nǚ zhǔ bō gān gà . . .

Mocked for mentioning Pearl Harbor! A guest jokingly asked, "Is that one of your station's reporters?" The Japanese female anchor looked awkward...

TvbsMar 2026

...天心带路!最佳CP合体巧遇大雪 温升豪自当花甲不够格

. . . tiān xīn dài lù ! zuì jiā C P gě tǐ qiǎo yù dà xuě wēn shēng háo zì cháo dāng huā jiǎ bù gòu gé

...Tianxin Leads the Way! The Perfect Duo Reunites Amid a Snowstorm; Wen Shenghao Jokes That He’s Not Old Enough to Be a “Sixty-Year-Old”

Hk01.comFeb 2026

游飚逝世|绿叶变生意人 自曝曾遭顾客讽最后产品一度卖断市

yóu 飚 shì shì lǜ xié biàn shēng yì rén zì pù céng zāo gù kè cháo fěng zuì hòu chǎn pǐn yī dù mài duàn shì

You Biao passed away|Green leaves became a businessman and revealed that he had been ridiculed by customers, and finally the product was sold out of the market

Hk01.comFeb 2026

...头西米露糖水!仅5粒芋头+极少西米 网民赈灾粥

. . . tóu xī mǐ lù táng shuǐ ! jǐn 5 lì 芋 tóu jí shǎo xī mǐ wǎng mín cháo 赈 zāi zhōu

... Head sago sugar water! Only 5 grains of taro + very little sago Netizens ridiculed the disaster relief porridge

Tatoeba

我不喜欢你笑她的方式。

Wǒ bù xǐhuan nǐ cháoxiào tā de fāngshì.

I don't like the way you laugh at her.

Tatoeba

不要因为他犯了一个错误就笑他。

Bù yào yīnwèi tā fàn le yī gè cuòwù jiù cháoxiào tā.

Don't laugh at him for making a mistake.

Tatoeba

他在众人面前被笑。

Tā zài zhòngrén miànqián bèi cháoxiào.

He was laughed at in public.

Tatoeba

笑别人是无礼的。

Cháoxiào biéren shì wúlǐ de.

It is rude to laugh at others.

Character Family

Homophones — Characters pronounced cháo

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 嘲 (cháo) mean in Chinese?
嘲 (cháo) primarily means "to ridicule." It is classified as HSK Level 6, making it an advanced character. It ranks #2258 in character frequency.
How many strokes does 嘲 have?
嘲 is written with 15 strokes. The correct stroke order matters for recognition and handwriting speed — practice with the animated guide above to build proper technique.
What is the radical of 嘲?
The radical associated with 嘲 is 口 (mouth). This radical appears in many characters related to mouth.
What are the components of 嘲?
嘲 is composed of: 口 (semantic), 朝 (phonetic). Its IDS decomposition is ⿰口朝 with a left-right layout. Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.
What are common words containing 嘲?
Common words with 嘲 include: 嘲笑 (cháo xiào, "to jeer at"); 嘲弄 (cháo nòng, "to tease"); 嘲讽 (cháo fěng, "to sneer at"); 冷嘲热讽 (lěng cháo rè fěng, "frigid irony and scorching satire (idiom)"); 自嘲 (zì cháo, "to mock oneself"). There are over 10 compound words containing this character.
What characters sound the same as 嘲 (cháo)?
Several characters share the pronunciation cháo: 潮 (tide), 抄 (to make a copy), 钞 (banknote), 超 (to exceed), and 5 more. Context and tones help distinguish between them in speech and writing.
Is 嘲 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Yes, 嘲 is written the same way in both simplified and traditional Chinese.

Practice writing with real-time feedback

Trace stroke sequences, hear native pronunciation, and build lasting retention with spaced repetition in the HanziFeed app.

Character data sourced from Unihan (Unicode Consortium), SUBTLEX-CH frequency corpus (Cai & Brysbaert, 2010), and Make Me a Hanzi (stroke data). Collocation strength measured via NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information). Verified by the HanziFeed linguistics team.

HSK classification follows the HSK 3.0 Standard (Center for Language Education and Cooperation, CLEC, 2022 revision). Idiom data from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 3.0).

Data last verified: March 2026.