(diào): to suspend, to hang up, to hang a person

(diào) is a Chinese character meaning “to suspend.” Classified as HSK Level 6 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of (structural) and (structural). It ranks #2018 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Native pronunciation

Definitions

  1. to suspend
  2. to hang up
  3. to hang a person

Stroke Order

1
2
3
4
5
6

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

Words & Compounds

Common Compounds

WordPinyinMeaning
diào sǐdeath by hanging
shàng diàoto hang oneself
diào xiāoto suspend (an agreement)
diào dàisuspenders
diào qiáodrawbridge
diào chuánghammock
tí xīn diào dǎn(idiom) nervous
diào chēhoist
diào dēnghanging lamp
diào yànto offer condolences (for the deceased)
diào wà dàisuspenders (for stockings)
diào suǒsling
diào shàna ceiling fan
bàn diào zidabbler
diào huánrings (gymnastics)
86
Total compounds
79
As first character
9
As last character
12
As middle character

appears in 86 compound words: 79 as the first character, 9 as the last, and 12 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.

0.538828 co-occurrences
0.4952,502 co-occurrences
dēng
0.4581,668 co-occurrences
gān
0.4571,464 co-occurrences
xuán
0.4521,332 co-occurrences
cāng
0.4481,152 co-occurrences
xiāo
0.4473,396 co-occurrences
guà
0.4421,468 co-occurrences
zhuì
0.442759 co-occurrences
tuō
0.4231,192 co-occurrences

Idioms & Chengyu (7)

diào'erlángdāngHSK 6+

sloppy; slapdash; lackadaisical; careless; half-assed

adjective
diào mín fá zuìHSK 7+

to console the people by punishing the tyrants (idiom)

phrase
diào sǐ wèn jíHSK 6+

to grieve for the sick and the dying; to show great concern for people's suffering

phrase
tíxīndiàodǎnHSK 6+

to be on tenterhooks; to be scared or jittery; to be in constant fear

phrase
xíngyǐng xiāngdiàoHSK 6+

extremely lonely; sad and solitary

phrase
bēng bā diào kǎoHSK 7+

to strip, tie up, hang and beat sb, an ancient torture technique

phrase
diào guǐ jīn qíHSK 7+

strange and paradoxical

phrase

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

妈妈嘱我要按时吃饭,注意身体健康。

mā mā diào zhǔ wǒ yāo àn shí chī fàn , zhù yì shēn tī jiàn kāng .

Mom repeatedly reminded me to eat on time and take care of my health.

UdnnewsindexFeb 2026

10公里要10万!蒋万安怒轰“趁火打劫”...

tuō diào 1 0 gōng lǐ yāo 1 0 wàn ! 蒋 wàn ān nù hōng chèn huǒ dǎ jié . . .

Towing 10 kilometers costs 100,000 yuan! Jiang Wan'an angrily bombarded "robbery while the fire was fired"...

StheadlineFeb 2026

惊吓画面|12岁女童跌出滑雪缆车挂8米高空 直坠救援网外受伤

jīng hè huà miàn 1 2 suì nǚ tóng diē chū huá xuě lǎn chē diào guà 8 mǐ gāo kōng zhí zhuì jiù yuán wǎng wài shòu shāng

A 12-year-old girl fell out of the ski lift and was suspended 8 meters above the rescue net and was injured

UdnnewsindexFeb 2026

又见天价拖 2公里开价5.1万

yòu jiàn tiān jià tuō diào 2 gōng lǐ kāi jià 5 . 1 wàn

See also the sky-high towing 2 kilometers asking price of 51,000

大紀元 | 大紀元新聞網Feb 2026

狮潭新凤桥旁 薰衣草全面盛开中

shī tán xīn fèng diào qiáo páng 薰 yī cǎo quán miàn shèng kāi zhōng

Lavender is in full bloom next to the Xinfeng Suspension Bridge in Shitan

Tatoeba

灯笼在树枝上着。

Dēnglóng zài shùzhī shàngdiào zhe.

The lamp was suspended from the branch of a tree.

Tatoeba

革命的时候他被死了。

Gémìng de shíhou tā bèi diàosǐ le.

He was hanged during the Revolution.

Tatoeba

她的这件带蕾丝睡衣很漂亮。

Tā de zhè jiàn diàodài lěisī shuìyī hěn piàoliang.

She has this pretty lace nightgown with straps.

Tatoeba

你里面要搭一件白色的带。

Nǐ lǐ miàn yào dā yī jiàn báisè de diàodài.

You should compliment it with a white camisole.

Tatoeba

汤姆向他的朋友吐露他要上自杀。

Tāngmǔ xiàng tā de péngyou tǔlù tā yào shàngdiào zìshā.

Tom confided in his friend that he was going to hang himself.

Character Family

Homophones — Characters pronounced diào

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 吊 (diào) mean in Chinese?
吊 (diào) primarily means "to suspend." It is classified as HSK Level 6, making it an advanced character. It ranks #2018 in character frequency.
What's the difference between 吊 and 下?
吊 (diào) and 下 (xià) are often confused. antonym. The key distinguishing feature: 吊 (up) vs 下 (down).
How many strokes does 吊 have?
吊 is written with 6 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 吊?
The radical associated with 吊 is 口 (mouth). This radical appears in many characters related to mouth.
What are the components of 吊?
吊 is composed of: 口 (structural), 巾 (structural). Its IDS decomposition is ⿱口巾 with a top-bottom layout. Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.
What are common words containing 吊?
Common words with 吊 include: 吊死 (diào sǐ, "death by hanging"); 上吊 (shàng diào, "to hang oneself"); 吊销 (diào xiāo, "to suspend (an agreement)"); 吊带 (diào dài, "suspenders"); 吊桥 (diào qiáo, "drawbridge"). There are over 86 compound words containing this character.
What characters sound the same as 吊 (diào)?
Several characters share the pronunciation diào: 刁 (artful), 叼 (to hold with one's mouth (as a smoker with a cigarette or a dog with a bone)), 雕 (to carve), 钓 (to fish), and 2 more. Context and tones help distinguish between them in speech and writing.
Is 吊 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Yes, 吊 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.