夹 (jiā): to press from either side, to place in between, to sandwich

夹 (jiā) is a Chinese character meaning “to press from either side.” Classified as HSK Level 6 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of 夫 (structural) and 丷 (structural). It ranks #1741 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Etymologically derived, 夹 a person 夫 stuck between two others 丷. Its radical form 大 (big) appears in many related characters such as 大 (dà, big), 天 (tiān, day), 太 (tài, highest).

Spoken pronunciation

Definitions

  1. to press from either side
  2. to place in between
  3. to sandwich

Etymology & Origin

夹

ideographicA person 夫 stuck between two others 丷

Decomposition: ⿻夫丷 (layout: overlay)

Stroke Order

1
2
3
4
5
6

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

Words & Compounds

Common Compounds

WordPinyinMeaning
夹克jiā kè(loanword) jacket
文件夹nounwén jiàn jiāfolder
皮夹nounpí jiāwallet
夹子nounjiā ziclip
夹心adjectivejiā xīnto fill with stuffing (e.g. in cooking)
弹夹dàn jiāammunition clip
发夹nounfà jiāhair clip
夹板nounjiā bǎnwooden boards used to press sth together
夹层nounjiā cénghollow layer between two solid layers
夹杂verbjiā záto mix together (disparate substances)
钱夹qián jiāwallet
夹击verbjiā jīpincer attack
夹带verbjiā dàito carry within it
夹竹桃nounjiā zhú táooleander (Nerium oleander)
夹缝nounjiā fèngcrack
70
Total compounds
66
As first character
24
As last character
10
As middle character

夹 appears in 70 compound words: 66 as the first character, 24 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 夹 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.

钳qián
0.534136 co-occurrences
层céng
0.4891,872 co-occurrences
杂zá
0.477962 co-occurrences
砂shā
0.475510 co-occurrences
缝féng
0.448160 co-occurrences
筷kuài
0.43636 co-occurrences
脉mài
0.433284 co-occurrences
沟gōu
0.427304 co-occurrences
击jī
0.4221,663 co-occurrences
陶táo
0.418458 co-occurrences

Idioms & Chengyu (4)

胡桃夹子hútáojiāziHSK 6+

nutcracker

noun
夹道欢迎jiā dào huān yíngHSK 6+

to line the streets in welcome

phrase
夹七夹八jiā qī jiā bāHSK 6+

completely mixed up; in a muddle

phrase
夹心饼干jiāxīn bǐnggānHSK 6+

cookie sandwich; a middleman who has to tolerate frustration from both sides

noun

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

我在字典里查到了夹字的详细解释。

wǒ zài zì diǎn lǐ chá dào le gā zì de xiáng xì xiè shì .

I looked up the detailed explanation of "sandwiching words" in the dictionary.

UdnnewsindexFeb 2026

中钢员工餐厅年销百万颗月饼、自助餐75元夹到饱...“亏钱也要卖”的美味秘密

zhōng gāng yuán gōng cān tīng nián xiāo bǎi wàn kē yuè bǐng , zì zhù cān 7 5 yuán jiā dào bǎo . . . kuī qián yě yāo mài de měi wèi mì mì

China Steel employee restaurant sells millions of mooncakes a year, and the buffet is 75 yuan all-you-can-eat... The delicious secret of "selling even if you lose money"

TvbsFeb 2026

...来了!明起连下7天 这天恐“雷雨+强风”夹击

. . . lái le ! míng qǐ lián xià 7 tiān zhè tiān kǒng léi yǔ qiáng fēng jiā jī

... Here it comes! Tomorrow will be raining for 7 consecutive days, and this day is likely to be hit by "thunderstorms + strong winds"

EttodayFeb 2026

刮刮乐“夹心玄学”秒中万元!网友朝圣 员工揭内幕:...

guā guā lè jiā xīn xuán xué miǎo zhōng wàn yuán ! wǎng yǒu cháo shèng yuán gōng jiē nèi mù : . . .

Scratch card "sandwich metaphysics" won 10,000 yuan in seconds! Netizens pilgrimage employees reveal the inside story:...

鉅亨網 - 財經新聞、全球指數、股市報價、商品行情、理財投資Feb 2026

...大增 小企业陷“预付税”与“退款难”双重夹击

. . . dà zēng xiǎo qǐ yè xiàn yù fù shuì yǔ tuì kuǎn nán shuāng chóng jiā jī

... Small businesses are trapped in the double attack of "prepaid tax" and "difficult refund"

WorldjournalFeb 2026

...点 三大指数跌逾1% AI冲击与关税变数夹击

. . . diǎn sān dà zhǐ shǔ diē yú 1 A I chōng jī yǔ guān shuì biàn shǔ jiā jī

... The three major indexes fell more than 1%, and the AI shock and tariff variables were hit

Tatoeba

汤姆把夹克挂在大厅衣柜里。

Tāngmǔ bǎ jiākè guà zài dàtīng yīguì lǐ.

Tom hung his jacket in the hall closet.

Tatoeba

蒙古被俄罗斯和中国所包夹。

Měnggǔ bèi Éluósī hé Zhōngguó suǒ bāo jiā.

Mongolia is sandwiched between Russia and China.

Tatoeba

这款木质皮夹由一整块胡桃木制成。

Zhè kuǎn mùzhì píjiā yóu yī zhěng kuài hútáo mùzhì chéng.

This wood wallet is crafted from a single piece of walnut.

Tatoeba

汤姆找不到锅铲了,只好用夹子为煎饼翻面。

Tāngmǔ zhǎobudào guōchǎn le, zhǐhǎo yòng jiāzi wèi jiānbǐng fān miàn.

Unable to find a spatula, Tom used tongs to flip the pancakes.

Character Family

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 夹 (jiā) mean in Chinese?
夹 (jiā) primarily means "to press from either side." It is classified as HSK Level 6, making it an advanced character. It ranks #1741 in character frequency.
How many strokes does 夹 have?
夹 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 夹?
The radical associated with 夹 is 大 (big). This radical appears in many characters related to big.
What are the components of 夹?
夹 is composed of: 夫 (structural), 丷 (structural). Its IDS decomposition is ⿻夫丷 with a overlay layout. Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.
What are common words containing 夹?
Common words with 夹 include: 夹克 (jiā kè, "(loanword) jacket"); 文件夹 (wén jiàn jiā, "folder"); 皮夹 (pí jiā, "wallet"); 夹子 (jiā zi, "clip"); 夹心 (jiā xīn, "to fill with stuffing (e.g. in cooking)"). There are over 70 compound words containing this character.
Is 夹 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Yes, 夹 is written the same way in both simplified and traditional Chinese.

Practice writing 夹 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.