架 (jià): shelf, frame

架 (jià) is a Chinese character meaning “shelf, frame.” Classified as HSK Level 5 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of 加 (phonetic) and 木 (semantic). It ranks #846 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Etymologically derived, 架 wood. Its radical form 木 (tree) appears in many related characters such as 本 (běn, (bound form) root), 机 (jī, machine, opportunity), 条 (tiáo, strip).

Spoken pronunciation

Definitions

  1. shelf, frame

Etymology & Origin

架

pictophoneticwood

Decomposition: ⿱加木 (layout: top-bottom)

Stroke Order

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9

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

Words & Compounds

HSK Vocabulary with 架

WordPinyinMeaningHSK
打架verbdǎ jiàto fight6
吵架verbchǎo jiàto quarrel6
书架nounshū jiàbookshelf5

Common Compounds

WordPinyinMeaning
绑架verbbǎng jiàto kidnap
十字架nounshí zì jiàcross
架子nounjià zishelf
骨架noungǔ jiàframework
担架noundān jiàstretcher
支架nounzhī jiàtrestle
架势jià shiattitude
衣架nounyī jiàclothes hanger
货架nounhuò jiàshelf for goods
散架verbsǎn jiàto fall apart
框架nounkuàng jià(construction) frame
三脚架nounsān jiǎo jiàtripod
招架verbzhāo jiàto resist
摆架子verbbǎi jià zito put on airs
起落架nounqǐ luò jià(aviation) landing gear
100
Total compounds
15
As first character
73
As last character
12
As middle character

架 appears in 100 compound words: 15 as the first character, 73 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 架 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.

框kuàng
0.65824,803 co-occurrences
绑bǎng
0.5867,834 co-occurrences
吵chǎo
0.5344,708 co-occurrences
骨gǔ
0.4587,508 co-occurrences
构gòu
0.45716,610 co-occurrences
飞fēi
0.4538,360 co-occurrences
高gāo
0.44340,060 co-occurrences
转zhuǎn
0.4258,422 co-occurrences
钉dīng
0.417486 co-occurrences
落luò
0.41010,208 co-occurrences

Idioms & Chengyu (2)

道德绑架dàodé bǎngjiàHSK 7+

to hijack morality to condemn someone; to occupy the moral high ground to dictate what others should do

phrase
十字架刑shí zì jià xíngHSK 7+

crucifiction

phrase

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

书架上的书太多了,需要再买一个新的来存放。

Shūjià shang de shū tài duō le, xūyào zài mǎi yí gè xīn de lái cúnfàng.

There are too many books on the bookshelf; I need to buy a new one to store them.

EttodayFeb 2026

國1五楊高架「男下車墜橋亡」!家屬悲赴殯儀館 相驗追...

國 wǔ 楊 gāo jià nán xià 車 墜 橋 wáng ! jiā 屬 bēi fù 殯 儀 館 xiāng 驗 zhuī . . .

Man Falls to Death from Wuyang Overpass on National Highway 1! Family Devastated as They Head to Funeral Home; Autopsy Underway...

東森新聞Feb 2026

載到搶匪!刀架脖問「要錢還要命」 運將哭喊:我要養孩

載 dào 搶 fěi ! dāo jià bó 問 yāo 錢 還 yāo mìng 運 將 kū hǎn wǒ yāo 養 hái

Robbers in the cab! Knife to the neck: "Money or your life?" Driver cries out: "I have kids to raise!"

LtnFeb 2026

國1五楊高架小黃乘客離奇墜橋亡 檢警相驗釐清原因

國 wǔ 楊 gāo jià xiǎo 黃 chéng kè 離 qí 墜 橋 wáng 檢 jǐng xiāng 驗 釐 qīng yuán yīn

Passenger Mysteriously Falls to Death from Wuyang Elevated Highway in National Highway 1 Section Prosecutors and Police Conduct Autopsy to Determine Cause

東森新聞Feb 2026

五楊高架男搭小黃情緒失控! 下車亂竄墜橋亡

wǔ 楊 gāo jià nán dā xiǎo 黃 qíng 緒 shī kòng ! xià 車 亂 竄 墜 橋 wáng

Man on the Wu Yang elevated train lost control of his emotions! He got out of the car and fell off the bridge.

It之家Feb 2026

...单:比亚迪详解澳洲车型本地化调校细节,悬架更硬更偏欧规设定

. . . dān bǐ yà dí xiáng jiě ào zhōu chē xíng běn dì huà diào jiào xì jié , xuán jià gēng yìng gēng piān ōu guī shè dìng

... 单:BYD详解澳洲车型本地化调调细节,悬架更硬更偏欧规设定

Tatoeba

你又和汤姆吵架了吗?

Nǐ yòu hé Tāngmǔ chǎojià le ma?

Did you have another fight with Tom?

Tatoeba

汤姆有一架钢琴吗?

Tāngmǔ yǒu yījià gāngqín ma?

Does Tom have a piano?

Tatoeba

这架飞机一次可以携带40名乘客。

Zhè jià fēijī yīcì kěyǐ xiédài sì shí míng chéngkè.

This airplane is capable of carrying 40 passengers at a time.

Tatoeba

我需要购买新的镜架。

Wǒ xūyào gòumǎi xīn de jìngjià.

I need to buy new spectacle frames.

Character Family

Semantic Family — Characters sharing the 木 (wood) component

Homophones — Characters pronounced jià

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 架 (jià) mean in Chinese?
架 (jià) primarily means "shelf, frame." It is classified as HSK Level 5, making it an advanced character. It ranks #846 in character frequency.
What's the difference between 架 and 咖?
架 (jià) and 咖 (kā) are often confused. confusable. The key distinguishing feature: 木 vs 口 (same 加 component).
How many strokes does 架 have?
架 is written with 9 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 架?
The radical associated with 架 is 木 (tree). This radical appears in many characters related to tree.
What are the components of 架?
架 is composed of: 加 (phonetic), 木 (semantic). Its IDS decomposition is ⿱加木 with a top-bottom layout. Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.
What are common words containing 架?
Common words with 架 include: 绑架 (bǎng jià, "to kidnap"); 打架 (dǎ jià, "to fight"); 吵架 (chǎo jià, "to quarrel"); 十字架 (shí zì jià, "cross"); 架子 (jià zi, "shelf"). There are over 100 compound words containing this character.
What characters sound the same as 架 (jià)?
Several characters share the pronunciation jià: 驾 (to drive), 嘉 (excellent), 家 (home, family), 加 (Canada (abbr. for 加拿大)), and 2 more. Context and tones help distinguish between them in speech and writing.
Is 架 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Yes, 架 is written the same way in both simplified and traditional Chinese.

Practice writing 架 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.