(jiā): Canada (abbr. for 加拿大[Jia1 na2 da4]), surname Jia, to add

(jiā) is a Chinese character meaning “canada (abbr. for 加拿大[jia1 na2 da4]).” Classified as HSK Level 3 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of (structural) and (structural). It ranks #166 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Etymologically derived, supporting a cause with the strength 力 of one's words 口. Its radical form (power) appears in many related characters such as (dòng, (of sth) to move), (, power), (bàn, to take care of (a matter)).

Native pronunciation

Definitions

  1. Canada (abbr. for 加拿大[Jia1 na2 da4])
  2. surname Jia
  3. to add

Etymology & Origin

ideographicSupporting a cause with the strength 力 of one's words 口

Decomposition: ⿰力口 (layout: left-right)

Stroke Order

1
2
3
4
5

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
verbcān jiāto participate3
verbjiā yóuto add oil4
verbjiā rùto become a member4
adverbgèng jiāmore (than sth else)4
conjunctionjiā shàngplus4
verbzēng jiāto raise4
verbjiā sùto accelerate5
verbjiā qiángto reinforce4
nounjiā yóu zhàngas station4
verbjiā kuàito accelerate4
verb/adverbjiā bèito double6
verbjiā bānto work overtime4
verbjiā rèto heat5
verbjiā gōngto process5
verb/conjunctionjiā yǐin addition6
verbtiān jiāto add6
verbjiā zhòngto make heavier6
verbjiā shēnto deepen5
verbjiā jùto intensify6

Common Compounds

WordPinyinMeaning
jiā zhōuCalifornia
jiā lǐpotassium (loanword)
jiā mìto encrypt
jiā dàto increase (e.g. one's effort)
jiā lún(loanword) gallon
jiā miǎnto crown
fù jiāadditional
jiā xīnto raise salary
jiā péngGabon
jiā chángto lengthen
jiā gùto reinforce (a structure)
jiā jǐnto intensify
100
Total compounds
87
As first character
13
As last character
0
As middle character

appears in 100 compound words: 87 as the first character, 13 as the last, and 0 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.

zēng
0.663733,993 co-occurrences
0.627373,298 co-occurrences
0.626265,203 co-occurrences
0.6041,073,688 co-occurrences
cān
0.565727,962 co-occurrences
tiān
0.55887,920 co-occurrences
méng
0.510194,484 co-occurrences
zhī
0.51065,663 co-occurrences
mèng
0.46348,624 co-occurrences
0.450166,436 co-occurrences

Idioms & Chengyu (27)

Bèijiā'ěr HúHSK 5+

Lake Baikal (a large freshwater lake in Siberia, Russia)

biànběnjiālìHSK 4+

to get worse; to become aggravated; to intensify one's effort to do something wrong

verb
bùjiāsīsuǒHSK 5+

synonym of 不假思索 (bùjiǎsīsuǒ, “without hesitation; without thought”)

phrase
céng céng jiā mǎHSK 3+

to increase bit by bit; repeated increments

phrase
Fú'ěrjiā HéHSK 7+

the Volga

Jiā'ěrgèdáHSK 4+

Kolkata, Calcutta (the capital city of West Bengal, India)

jiāguānjìnjuéHSK 7+

to be promoted to a higher office or rank

phrase
jiā guān jìn juéHSK 7+

to confer a title an official position

phrase
jiājiǎn chéngchúHSK 4+

addition, subtraction, multiplication and division; arithmetic operations

noun
Jiālèbǐ HǎiHSK 7+

Caribbean Sea (a sea)

jiā yóu tiān cùHSK 6+

to add interest (to a story); to sex up

phrase
kuàimǎjiābiānHSK 7+

to whip the horse to an even swifter speed; to go even faster; to accelerate the speed

phrase

Showing 12 of 27 idioms containing .

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

入这个团队后,我结识了很多志同道合的朋友。

Jiārù zhè gè tuánduì hòu, wǒ jiéshí le hěn duō zhìtóngdàohé de péngyou.

After joining this team, I met many like-minded friends.

百度新闻Feb 2026

8名中国游客在贝尔湖落水,目前仅1人获救

8 míng zhōng guó yóu kè zài bèi jiā ěr hú luò shuǐ , mù qián jǐn 1 rén huò jiù

Eight Chinese tourists fell into the water in Lake Baikal, and only one has been rescued

百度新闻Feb 2026

...文回顾徐梦桃冬奥会风雪卫冕路:16年间参5届奥..

. . . wén huí gù xú mèng táo dōng ào huì fēng xuě wèi 冕 lù nián jiān cān jiā jiè ào . .

... Wen review Xu Mengtao winter Olympic wind and snow defense road: 16 years to participate in five o...

百度新闻Feb 2026

拿大国家电视塔“红装”庆春节

jiā ná dà guó jiā diàn shì tǎ hóng zhuāng qìng chūn jié

Canada's national TV tower celebrates Chinese New Year in red

百度新闻Feb 2026

冬奥会|冰壶男子循环赛:中国队不敌拿大队

dōng ào huì bīng hú nán zǐ xún huán sài zhōng guó duì bù dí jiā ná dà duì

Winter Olympics | Men's Curling Round Robin: China defeats Canada

百度新闻Feb 2026

莎拉·杜特尔特宣布参2028年菲律宾总统大选

莎 lā dù tè ěr tè xuān bù cān jiā nián 菲 lǜ bīn zǒng tǒng dà xuǎn

Sara Duterte announces her candidacy for the 2028 Philippine presidential election.

Tatoeba

你参社团活动吗?

Nǐ cānjiā shètuán huódòng ma?

Do you take part in any community activities?

Tatoeba

这里附近有没有油站?

Zhèlǐ fùjìn yǒuméiyǒu jiāyóuzhàn?

Is there a gas station near here?

Tatoeba

你们说了要参会议了吗?

Nǐmen shuō le yào cānjiā huìyì le ma?

Did you say you wanted to participate in the meeting?

Tatoeba

他们在拿大说法语吗?

Tāmen zài Jiānádà shuō Fǎyǔ ma?

Do they speak French in Canada?

Character Family

Homophones — Characters pronounced jiā

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 加 (jiā) mean in Chinese?
加 (jiā) primarily means "canada (abbr. for 加拿大[jia1 na2 da4])." It is classified as HSK Level 3, making it a beginner-level character. It ranks #166 in character frequency.
How many strokes does 加 have?
加 is written with 5 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 加?
The radical associated with 加 is 力 (power). This radical appears in many characters related to power.
What are the components of 加?
加 is composed of: 力 (structural), 口 (structural). Its IDS decomposition is ⿰力口 with a left-right layout. Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.
What are common words containing 加?
Common words with 加 include: 参加 (cān jiā, "to participate"); 加油 (jiā yóu, "to add oil"); 加入 (jiā rù, "to become a member"); 更加 (gèng jiā, "more (than sth else)"); 加上 (jiā shàng, "plus"). There are over 100 compound words containing this character.
What characters sound the same as 加 (jiā)?
Several characters share the pronunciation jiā: 佳 (beautiful), 茄 (phonetic character used in loanwords for the sound "jia", although 夾|夹 is more common), 家 (home, family), 嘉 (excellent), and 5 more. Context and tones help distinguish between them in speech and writing.
Is 加 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Yes, 加 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.