嘉 (jiā): excellent, auspicious, to praise, to commend

嘉 (jiā) is a Chinese character meaning “excellent.” Classified as HSK Level 5 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of 壴 (semantic) and 加 (phonetic). It ranks #1828 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

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

Native pronunciation

HSK 5 Radical: 口 mouth14 strokesFrequency #1828壴 semantic 加 phonetic

Definitions

excellent
auspicious
to praise
to commend

Etymology & Origin

嘉

pictophoneticdrum

Decomposition: ⿱壴加 (layout: top-bottom)

Components:壴semantic 加phonetic

Stroke Order

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

Words & Compounds

HSK Vocabulary with 嘉

Word	Pinyin	Meaning	HSK
嘉宾noun	jiā bīn	esteemed guest	5

Common Compounds

Word	Pinyin	Meaning
嘉年华	jiā nián huá	(loanword) carnival
嘉奖	jiā jiǎng	to award
可嘉	kě jiā	laudable
李嘉诚	lǐ jiā chéng	Sir Li Ka-shing (1928-), Hong Kong businessman
科西嘉岛	kē xī jiā dǎo	Corsica (Island located west of Italy and southeast of France)
嘉士伯	jiā shì bó	Carlsberg
杜嘉班纳	dù jiā bān nà	Dolce & Gabbana (fashion brand)
宝嘉康蒂	bǎo jiā kāng dì	Pocahontas (c. 1595-1617), native American noted for her association with the colony of Jamestown, Virginia
嘉定区	jiā dìng qū	Jiading district of northwest Shanghai
乾嘉三大家	qián jiā sān dà jiā	the three leading poets of the Qianlong-Jiaqing era (1735–1820), who championed personal expression and innovation in...
勇气可嘉	yǒng qì kě jiā	to deserve praise for one's courage (idiom)
嘉义市	jiā yì shì	Chiayi city in central Taiwan
嘉兴市	jiā xīng shì	Jiaxing, prefecture-level city in Zhejiang Province 浙江省[Zhe4 jiang1 Sheng3]
嘉宝果	jiā bǎo guǒ	jaboticaba
嘉会	jiā huì	auspicious occasion

Total compounds

As first character

As last character

As middle character

嘉 appears in 54 compound words: 63 as the first character, 11 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 嘉 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.

宾bīn

0.59950,736 co-occurrences

溪xī

0.59812 co-occurrences

禾hé

0.54212,486 co-occurrences

义yì

0.49222 co-occurrences

庆qìng

0.48528,134 co-occurrences

十shí

0.475156,354 co-occurrences

颁bān

0.4278,370 co-occurrences

欣xīn

0.4229,660 co-occurrences

兴xīng

0.41817,772 co-occurrences

绒róng

0.3941,434 co-occurrences

Idioms & Chengyu (1)

科西嘉岛Kēxījiā DǎoHSK 6+

Corsica Island

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

他的表现获得了大家的一致嘉奖。

Tā de biǎoxiàn huòdé le dàjiā de yīzhì jiājiǎng.

His performance received unanimous praise from everyone.

StheadlineFeb 2026

李嘉欣15歲兒子返港團年 Jayden身高直...

lǐ jiā xīn 歲兒 zǐ fǎn gǎng 團 nián shēn gāo zhí . . .

Li Jiaxin's 15-year-old son returns to Hong Kong for the Lunar New Year reunion. Jayden's height is...

中国新闻网_梳理天下新闻Feb 2026

2026年白马新春嘉年华开幕式在墨尔本举行

nián bái mǎ xīn chūn jiā nián huá kāi mù shì zài mò ěr běn jǔ háng

The 2026 Bai Ma Spring Festival Carnival Opening Ceremony was held in Melbourne.

熊日Feb 2026

嘉永、無念の失格

jiā yǒng 無 niàn shī gé

Kayon, Ignorant Disorder

東方日報Feb 2026

嘩!近$4,620萬買嘉應高昇W創紀錄!

嘩 ! jìn , 萬買 jiā 應 gāo 昇創紀錄 !

Wow! Nearly $46.2 million for Kayak's record-breaking W!

東方日報Feb 2026

應家柏話嘉應高昇係全球世一馬!

應 jiā bǎi 話 jiā 應 gāo 昇係 quán qiú shì yī 馬 !

Ying Ka-Pak says Kayo Gao Sheng is the World's Best Horse!

Tatoeba

我想和格特‧嘉尼一起死。

Wǒ xiǎng hé gé tè ‧ jiā ní yīqǐ sǐ.

I want to die with Getter Jaani.

Tatoeba

他做的这件事真是精神可嘉！

Tā zuò de zhè jiàn shì zhēnshi jīngshén kějiā!

What he did really shows the right spirit!

Character Family

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 嘉 (jiā) mean in Chinese?

嘉 (jiā) primarily means "excellent." It is classified as HSK Level 5, making it an advanced character. It ranks #1828 in character frequency.

What's the difference between 嘉 and 瘸?

嘉 (jiā) and 瘸 (qué) are often confused. confusable. The key distinguishing feature: 口 vs 疒 (same 加 component).

How many strokes does 嘉 have?

嘉 is written with 14 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 嘉?

The radical associated with 嘉 is 口 (mouth). This radical appears in many characters related to mouth.

What are the components of 嘉?

嘉 is composed of: 壴 (semantic), 加 (phonetic). Its IDS decomposition is ⿱壴加 with a top-bottom layout. Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.

What are common words containing 嘉?

Common words with 嘉 include: 嘉宾 (jiā bīn, "esteemed guest"); 嘉年华 (jiā nián huá, "(loanword) carnival"); 嘉奖 (jiā jiǎng, "to award"); 可嘉 (kě jiā, "laudable"); 李嘉诚 (lǐ jiā chéng, "Sir Li Ka-shing (1928-), Hong Kong businessman"). There are over 54 compound words containing this character.

What characters sound the same as 嘉 (jiā)?

Several characters share the pronunciation jiā: 茄 (phonetic character used in loanwords for the sound "jia", although 夾|夹 is more common), 驾 (to drive), 架 (shelf, frame), 加 (Canada (abbr. for 加拿大[Jia1 na2 da4])), and 4 more. Context and tones help distinguish between them in speech and writing.

Is 嘉 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?

Yes, 嘉 is written the same way in both simplified and traditional Chinese.

Practice writing 嘉 with real-time feedback

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