(jiā): phonetic character used in loanwords for the sound "jia", although 夾|夹 is more common, eggplant

(jiā) is a Chinese character meaning “phonetic character used in loanwords for the sound "jia", although 夾|夹 is more common.” Classified as HSK Level 5 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of (semantic) and (phonetic). It ranks #2820 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Etymologically derived, plant. Its radical form (grass) appears in many related characters such as (huā, flower), (chá, tea), (cài, vegetable, dish).

Native pronunciation

Definitions

  1. phonetic character used in loanwords for the sound "jia", although 夾|夹 is more common
  2. eggplant

Etymology & Origin

pictophoneticplant

Decomposition: ⿱艹加 (layout: top-bottom)

Stroke Order

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8

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
nounfān qiétomato5

Common Compounds

WordPinyinMeaning
xuě jiā(loanword) cigar
fān qié jiàngketchup
qié zieggplant (Solanum melongena L.)
fān qiévariant of 番茄[fan1 qie2]
xuě jiā yāncigar
ōu mǐ jiā biǎo gōng sīOmega SA, Swiss luxury watchmaker
qié zi hé qūQiezihe, a district of Qitaihe City 七臺河市|七台河市[Qi1 tai2 he2 Shi4], Heilongjiang
qié èr shí bā xīng piáo chóng28-spotted ladybird
tiě bǎn qié zieggplant served sizzling on a hot iron plate
qié zi hésee 茄子河區|茄子河区[Qie2 zi5 he2 Qu1]
shāo qié zistewed eggplant
xuě jiā tóucigarette lighter plug (inserted in a car's cigarette lighter socket to draw power)
qié hóng sùLycopene
fān qié hóng sùLycopene
zhēn zhū xiǎo fān qiésee 聖女果|圣女果[sheng4 nu:3 guo3]
25
Total compounds
32
As first character
36
As last character
32
As middle character

appears in 25 compound words: 32 as the first character, 36 as the last, and 32 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.

fān
0.65714,579 co-occurrences
jiàng
0.535831 co-occurrences
làn
0.525756 co-occurrences
zhī
0.5001,050 co-occurrences
xuě
0.4814,299 co-occurrences
shǔ
0.476582 co-occurrences
diāo
0.46690 co-occurrences
chǎo
0.431414 co-occurrences
cōng
0.423150 co-occurrences
diān
0.409252 co-occurrences

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

字的写法很特别,让我印象深刻。

jiā zì de xiě fǎ hěn tè bié , ràng wǒ yìn xiàng shēn kè .

The way the character for "eggplant" is written is quite unique and has left a deep impression on me.

SmzdmApr 2026

种植四步法:从定植到保果的全流程技术要点

fān jiā zhǒng zhí sì bù fǎ : cóng dìng zhí dào bǎo guǒ de quán liú chéng jì shù yāo diǎn

UdnnewsindexApr 2026

高雄小货车掉落一箱蕃 一群机车闪过但仍酿女子压到摔车

gāo xióng xiǎo huò chē diào luò yī xiāng fān jiā yī qún jī chē shǎn guò dàn réng niàng nǚ zǐ yā dào shuāi chē

中時新聞網Mar 2026

老牌番酱超单纯 大票喊“成分都看得懂”

lǎo pái fān jiā jiàng chāo dān chún dà piào hǎn chéng fēn dōu kàn dé dǒng

Long-standing ketchup brand keeps it simple; many fans say, "I can actually understand the ingredients."

Hk01.comFeb 2026

游飚逝世|曾被称为“哩啡”即不爽话唔准叫:临时演员都系演员

yóu 飚 shì shì céng bèi chèn wéi jiā 哩 fēi jí bù shuǎng huà 唔 zhǔn jiào : lín shí yǎn yuán dōu xì yǎn yuán

You Biao's death, once known as "Eggplant," means that extras are all actors

Tatoeba

容易遭受很多病害。

Fānqié róngyì zāoshòu hěn duō bìnghài.

The tomato is subject to a number of diseases.

Tatoeba

我的三明治里有肉,奶酪和番

Wǒ de sānmíngzhì lǐ yǒu ròu, nǎilào hé fānqié.

In my sandwich there is meat, cheese and tomatoes.

Tatoeba

严格地讲,番是水果。

Yángé de jiǎng, fānqié shì shuǐguǒ.

Strictly speaking, the tomato is a fruit.

Tatoeba

严格来说,蕃不是蔬菜,是水果。

Yángéláishuō, fānqié bù shì shūcài, shì shuǐguǒ.

Strictly speaking, the tomato is not a vegetable. It's a fruit.

Tatoeba

汁意粉是小朋友的最爱。

Qié zhī yì fěn shì xiǎopéngyǒu de zuì ài.

Kids love pasta in tomato sauce.

Character Family

Homophones — Characters pronounced jiā

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 茄 (jiā) mean in Chinese?
茄 (jiā) primarily means "phonetic character used in loanwords for the sound "jia", although 夾|夹 is more common." It is classified as HSK Level 5, making it an advanced character. It ranks #2820 in character frequency.
What's the difference between 茄 and 咖?
茄 (jiā) and 咖 (kā) are often confused. confusable. The key distinguishing feature: 艹 vs 口 (same 加 component).
How many strokes does 茄 have?
茄 is written with 8 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 茄?
The radical associated with 茄 is 艹 (grass). This radical appears in many characters related to grass.
What are the components of 茄?
茄 is composed of: 艹 (semantic), 加 (phonetic). Its IDS decomposition is ⿱艹加 with a top-bottom layout. Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.
What are common words containing 茄?
Common words with 茄 include: 雪茄 (xuě jiā, "(loanword) cigar"); 番茄酱 (fān qié jiàng, "ketchup"); 茄子 (qié zi, "eggplant (Solanum melongena L.)"); 番茄 (fān qié, "tomato"); 蕃茄 (fān qié, "variant of 番茄[fan1 qie2]"). There are over 25 compound words containing this character.
What characters sound the same as 茄 (jiā)?
Several characters share the pronunciation jiā: 嘉 (excellent), 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 茄 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Yes, 茄 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.