颊 (jiá): cheeks

颊 (jiá) is a Chinese character meaning “cheeks.” Classified as HSK Level 7-9 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of 夹 (structural) and 页 (structural). It ranks #2528 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Etymologically derived, 颊 the jaw in 夹 the head 页; 夹 also provides the pronunciation. Its radical form 页 (page) appears in many related characters such as 页 (xié, head), 顺 (shùn, to obey), 须 (xū, must).

Native pronunciation
HSK 7-9Radical: 页 page12 strokesFrequency #2528夹 structural页 structural

Definitions

  1. cheeks

Etymology & Origin

颊

ideographicThe jaw in 夹 the head 页; 夹 also provides the pronunciation

Decomposition: ⿰夹页 (layout: left-right)

Components:夹structural页structural

Stroke Order

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12

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

Words & Compounds

Common Compounds

WordPinyinMeaning
脸颊liǎn jiácheek
面颊miàn jiácheek
紫颊直嘴太阳鸟zǐ jiá zhí zuǐ tài yáng niǎo(bird species of China) ruby-cheeked sunbird (Chalcoparia singalensis)
两颊生津liǎng jiá shēng jīnmouth-watering
齿颊生香chǐ jiá shēng xiānglit. to feel the taste in one's mouth (idiom)
白颊山鹧鸪bái jiá shān zhè gū(bird species of China) white-cheeked partridge (Arborophila atrogularis)
黄颊麦鸡huáng jiá mài jī(bird species of China) sociable lapwing (Vanellus gregarius)
黄颊山雀huáng jiá shān què(bird species of China) yellow-cheeked tit (Machlolophus spilonotus)
白颊黑雁bái jiá hēi yàn(bird species of China) barnacle goose (Branta leucopsis)
白颊鹎bái jiá bēi(bird species of China) Himalayan bulbul (Pycnonotus leucogenys)
批颊pī jiáto slap sb's cheeks
白颊噪鹛bái jiá zào méi(bird species of China) white-browed laughingthrush (Pterorhinus sannio)
缓颊huǎn jiáto urge reconciliation
颊窝jiá wōdimple
栗颊噪鹛lì jiá zào méi(bird species of China) rufous-cheeked laughingthrush (Garrulax castanotis)
16
Total compounds
6
As first character
31
As last character
63
As middle character

颊 appears in 16 compound words: 6 as the first character, 31 as the last, and 63 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 颊 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.

脸liǎn
0.6741,448 co-occurrences
窝wō
0.502180 co-occurrences
齿chǐ
0.491306 co-occurrences
鳄è
0.45354 co-occurrences
纹wén
0.437180 co-occurrences
眉méi
0.434132 co-occurrences
眶kuàng
0.42736 co-occurrences
喉hóu
0.41384 co-occurrences
吻wěn
0.411126 co-occurrences
颈jǐng
0.40048 co-occurrences

Idioms & Chengyu (1)

齿颊生香chǐ jiá shēng xiāngHSK 7+

lit. to feel the taste in one's mouth (idiom); fig. to water at the mouth; to drool in anticipation

phrase

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

脸颊红润，气色很好。

Liǎnjiá hóngrùn, qìsè hěn hǎo.

Rosy cheeks indicate good complexion.

Tatoeba

汤姆亲了玛丽脸颊。

Tāngmǔ qīn le Mǎlì liǎnjiá.

Tom kissed Mary on the cheek.

Tatoeba

汤姆的脸颊上有一块伤痕。

Tāngmǔ de liǎnjiá shàng yǒu yīkuài shānghén.

Tom has a scar on his cheek.

Tatoeba

她在他的脸颊上吻了一下。

Tā zài tā de liǎnjiá shàng wěn le yīxià.

She kissed him on the cheek.

Tatoeba

我两个脸颊都被打了。

Wǒ liǎng ge liǎnjiá dōu bèi dǎ le.

I got slapped on both cheeks.

Tatoeba

眼泪顺着她的脸颊流下来。

Yǎnlèi shùn zhe tā de liǎnjiá liú xiàlai.

Tears were flowing down her cheeks.

Character Family

页 Radical Family — Characters sharing the page radical

顶dǐng顿dùn顾gù领lǐng顺shùn题tí须xū颜yán页xié预yù

Related Characters

页xié顺shùn须xū顾gù题tí颜yán顿dùn预yù领lǐng顶dǐng

Homophones — Characters pronounced jiá

加jiā佳jiā茄jiā家jiā嘉jiā甲jiǎ假jiǎ驾jià架jià

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 颊 (jiá) mean in Chinese?
颊 (jiá) primarily means "cheeks." It is classified as HSK Level 7-9, making it an expert-level character. It ranks #2528 in character frequency.
How many strokes does 颊 have?
颊 is written with 12 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 颊?
The radical associated with 颊 is 页 (page). This radical appears in many characters related to page.
What are the components of 颊?
颊 is composed of: 夹 (structural), 页 (structural). Its IDS decomposition is ⿰夹页 with a left-right layout. Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.
What are common words containing 颊?
Common words with 颊 include: 脸颊 (liǎn jiá, "cheek"); 面颊 (miàn jiá, "cheek"); 紫颊直嘴太阳鸟 (zǐ jiá zhí zuǐ tài yáng niǎo, "(bird species of China) ruby-cheeked sunbird (Chalcoparia singalensis)"); 两颊生津 (liǎng jiá shēng jīn, "mouth-watering"); 齿颊生香 (chǐ jiá shēng xiāng, "lit. to feel the taste in one's mouth (idiom)"). There are over 16 compound words containing this character.
What characters sound the same as 颊 (jiá)?
Several characters share the pronunciation jiá: 加 (Canada (abbr. for 加拿大[Jia1 na2 da4])), 佳 (beautiful), 茄 (phonetic character used in loanwords for the sound "jia", although 夾|夹 is more common), 家 (home, family), and 5 more. Context and tones help distinguish between them in speech and writing.
Is 颊 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
No. The simplified form is 颊 and the traditional form is 頰.

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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.