伽 (jiā): used in the transliteration of Greek letters, traditionally used as phonetic for "ga", used to transliterate Sanskrit "gha"

伽 (jiā) is a Chinese character meaning “used in the transliteration of greek letters.” Outside the HSK 3.0 syllabus (CLEC 2022), it is composed of 亻 (semantic) and 加 (phonetic). It ranks #2646 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Etymologically derived, 伽 person. Its radical form 亻 (person) appears in many related characters such as 人 (rén, person), 你 (nǐ, you), 他 (tā, he).

Spoken pronunciation

Definitions

  1. used in the transliteration of Greek letters
  2. traditionally used as phonetic for "ga"
  3. used to transliterate Sanskrit "gha"

Etymology & Origin

伽

pictophoneticperson

Decomposition: ⿰亻加 (layout: left-right)

Stroke Order

1
2
3
4
5
6
7

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

Words & Compounds

Common Compounds

WordPinyinMeaning
伽利略proper-nounjiā lì lüèGalileo Galilei (1564-1642), Italian scientist
伽马射线gā mǎ shè xiàngamma ray
伽马noungā mǎ(loanword) gamma (Greek letter Γ, γ)
伽玛gā mǎvariant of 伽馬|伽马
伽师proper-nounjiā shīsee 伽師縣|伽师县
伽罗华理论jiā luó huá lǐ lùnGalois theory (math.)
阿伏伽德罗常数ā fú jiā dé luó cháng shùAvogadro's number (chemistry)
伽罗瓦理论jiā luó wǎ lǐ lùn(math.) Galois theory
伽利略号jiā lì lüè hàoGalileo, American robotic spacecraft launched to Jupiter in 1989, orbiting the planet 1995-2003
阿伏伽德罗proper-nounā fú jiā dé luóAmedeo Avogadro (1776-1856), Italian scientist
伽罗华jiā luó huáÉvariste Galois (1811–1832), French mathematician
瑜伽行派yú jiā xíng pàisee 唯識宗|唯识宗
伽利略·伽利雷jiā lì lüè · jiā lì léiGalileo Galilei (1564-1642), Italian scientist
欧米伽nounōu mǐ gāomega (Greek letter Ω, ω)
奥米伽ào mǐ gāomega (Greek letter Ω, ω)
27
Total compounds
56
As first character
19
As last character
26
As middle character

伽 appears in 27 compound words: 56 as the first character, 19 as the last, and 26 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 伽 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.

瑜yú
0.71610 co-occurrences
索suǒ
0.61110 co-occurrences

Idioms & Chengyu (2)

瑜伽行派yú jiā xíng pài

see 唯識宗|唯识宗

phrase
摩睺罗伽móhóuluóqié

mahoraga

Example Sentences

中国新闻网·体育Sep 2026

就在决赛前,被称为“小孩姐”的她还躺在场边的瑜伽垫上“做梦”。

jiù zài jué sài qián , bèi chēng wéi xiǎo hái jiě de tā hái tǎng zài chǎng biān de yú jiā diàn shàng zuò mèng .

Just before the final, she—known as “Little Sister”—was still lying on a yoga mat at the side of the court, “daydreaming.”

中国新闻网·生活Sep 2026

有腰椎间盘突出病史的人,使用瑜伽球开展训练前建议先咨询医生。

yǒu yāo zhuī jiān pán tū chū bìng shǐ de rén , shǐ yòng yú jiā qiú kāi zhǎn xùn liàn qián jiàn yì xiān zī xún yī shēng .

People with a history of herniated lumbar discs are advised to consult a doctor before using a yoga ball for exercise.

爱范儿Aug 2026

新作以伽勒尔地区为舞台,葱游兵与皮丘在一次次并不顺利的任务中帮助其他宝可梦。

xīn zuò yǐ jiā lè ěr dì qū wéi wǔ tái , cōng yóu bīng yǔ pí qiū zài yī cì cì bìng bù shùn lì de rèn wù zhōng bāng zhù qí tā bǎo kě mèng .

Set in the Galar region, the new game follows Green and Pichu as they help other Pokémon through a series of missions that don’t always go smoothly.

IT之家Jul 2026

我国大科学装置“拉索”新发现:认证首个拍电子伏伽马射线变源

wǒ guó dà kē xué zhuāng zhì lā suǒ xīn fā xiàn : rèn zhèng shǒu gè pāi diàn zǐ fú jiā mǎ shè xiàn biàn yuán

New Discovery at China’s “LASO” Large-Scale Scientific Facility: The First Verified Variable Source of Gamma Rays in the Picoelectronvolt Range

少数派Jul 2026

经过多年的马伽术和格斗训练,我的肩也不时会以疼痛和弹响进行“造反”。

jīng guò duō nián de mǎ jiā shù hé gé dǒu xùn liàn , wǒ de jiān yě bù shí huì yǐ téng tòng hé dàn xiǎng jìn xíng zào fǎn .

After years of Krav Maga and combat training, my shoulder occasionally "rebels" with pain and a popping sound.

Character Family

Semantic Family — Characters sharing the 亻 (person) component

Homophones — Characters pronounced jiā

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 伽 (jiā) mean in Chinese?
伽 (jiā) primarily means "used in the transliteration of greek letters." It is not part of the HSK 3.0 syllabus. It ranks #2646 in character frequency.
What's the difference between 伽 and 咖?
伽 (jiā) and 咖 (kā) are often confused. confusable. The key distinguishing feature: 亻 vs 口 (same 加 component).
How many strokes does 伽 have?
伽 is written with 7 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 伽?
The radical associated with 伽 is 亻 (person). This radical appears in many characters related to person.
What are the components of 伽?
伽 is composed of: 亻 (semantic), 加 (phonetic). Its IDS decomposition is ⿰亻加 with a left-right layout. Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.
What are common words containing 伽?
Common words with 伽 include: 伽利略 (jiā lì lüè, "Galileo Galilei (1564-1642), Italian scientist"); 伽马射线 (gā mǎ shè xiàn, "gamma ray"); 伽马 (gā mǎ, "(loanword) gamma (Greek letter Γ, γ)"); 伽玛 (gā mǎ, "variant of 伽馬|伽马"); 伽师 (jiā shī, "see 伽師縣|伽师县"). There are over 27 compound words containing this character.
What characters sound the same as 伽 (jiā)?
Several characters share the pronunciation jiā: 嘉 (excellent). Context and tones help distinguish between them in speech and writing.
Is 伽 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Yes, 伽 is written the same way in both simplified and traditional Chinese.

Practice writing 伽 with real-time feedback

Trace stroke sequences, hear spoken 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.