嚼 (jiáo): to chew, used in 倒嚼

嚼 (jiáo) is a Chinese character meaning “to chew.” Classified as HSK Level 7-9 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of 口 (semantic) and 爵 (phonetic). It ranks #2588 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Etymologically derived, 嚼 mouth. 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).

Spoken pronunciation

Definitions

  1. to chew
  2. used in 倒嚼

Etymology & Origin

嚼

pictophoneticmouth

Decomposition: ⿰口爵 (layout: left-right)

Stroke Order

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
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19
20

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

Words & Compounds

Common Compounds

WordPinyinMeaning
咀嚼verbjǔ juéto chew
嚼舌verbjiáo shéto gossip
味同嚼蜡phrasewèi tóng jiáo làlit. tastes as if one is chewing wax (idiom)
咬嚼verbyǎo jiáoto chew
吃别人嚼过的馍不香chī bié rén jiáo guò de mó bù xiānglit. bread previously chewed by someone has no flavor (idiom)
口嚼酒nounkǒu jiáo jiǔalcoholic drink made by fermenting chewed rice
咬文嚼字phraseyǎo wén jiáo zìto bite words and chew characters (idiom)
贪多嚼不烂phrasetān duō jiáo bù lànto bite off more than one can chew (idiom)
嚼子jiáo zibit
嚼劲儿jiáo jìn rchewiness
嚼头nounjiáo touchewiness
嚼舌头verbjiáo shé tóuto gossip
细嚼慢咽phrasexì jiáo màn yànto eat slowly (idiom)
倒嚼verbdǎo jiào(of cows) to ruminate
嚼舌根jiáo shé gēnto gossip
19
Total compounds
47
As first character
16
As last character
37
As middle character

嚼 appears in 19 compound words: 47 as the first character, 16 as the last, and 37 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 嚼 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.

咀jǔ
0.7391,788 co-occurrences
咬yǎo
0.498136 co-occurrences
劲jìn
0.45952 co-occurrences
咽yān
0.43334 co-occurrences
吞tūn
0.41582 co-occurrences
肌jī
0.40670 co-occurrences
糖táng
0.404114 co-occurrences
口kǒu
0.400892 co-occurrences
舌shé
0.40058 co-occurrences
耐nài
0.39962 co-occurrences

Idioms & Chengyu (3)

味同嚼蜡wèitóngjiáolàHSK 7+

tastes as if one is chewing wax; insipid; tasteless

phrase
细嚼慢咽xìjiáomànyànHSK 7+

to chew carefully and swallow slowly

phrase

Showing 2 of 3 idioms containing 嚼.

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

请嚼下这杯茶,解解渴再继续工作。

qǐng jiáo xià zhè bēi chá , xiè xiè kě zài jì xù gōng zuò .

Please take a sip of this tea to quench your thirst before continuing your work.

中国新闻网·文化Jul 2026

碱水粑则是江西特色,咸香有嚼劲。

碱 shuǐ 粑 zé shì jiāng xī tè sè , xián xiāng yǒu jiáo jìn .

Alkaline rice cakes are a specialty of Jiangxi; they are salty, fragrant, and chewy.

中国新闻网·生活Jul 2026

再挑剔的食客也很难吃出明显的酸、辣、苦、涩等味道,更不用担心纤维高、嚼不烂的问题。

zài tiāo tī de shí kè yě hěn nán chī chū míng xiǎn de suān , là , kǔ , sè děng wèi dào , gēng bù yòng dān xīn qiàn wéi gāo , jiáo bù làn de wèn tí .

Even the most discerning diners would be hard-pressed to detect any distinct sour, spicy, bitter, or astringent flavors, and there’s certainly no need to worry about high fiber content or the food being tough to chew.

少数派Jul 2026

想要细嚼专辑、弄懂其中的元素巧思,这十分考验听众的音乐积累。

xiǎng yāo xì jiáo zhuān jí , nòng dǒng qí zhōng de yuán sù qiǎo sī , zhè shí fēn kǎo yàn tīng zhòng de yīn lè jī lěi .

To really savor an album and understand the ingenuity behind its various elements, listeners need to draw on a wealth of musical knowledge.

少数派Jul 2026

一些马儿从马圈里小步快跑到湖岸边,快速的咀嚼着刚冒头的嫩草。

yī xiē mǎ ér cóng mǎ juān lǐ xiǎo bù kuài pǎo dào hú àn biān , kuài sù de jǔ jiáo zhe gāng mào tóu de nèn cǎo .

Some horses trotted from the corral to the lakeshore, quickly munching on the tender grass that had just begun to sprout.

少数派Jun 2026

我第一次做泡水青稞米一晚上,青稞米比较软,没嚼劲了。

wǒ dì yī cì zuò pāo shuǐ qīng 稞 mǐ yī wǎn shàng , qīng 稞 mǐ bǐ jiào ruǎn , méi jiáo jìn le .

This was my first time soaking barley overnight; the barley turned out quite soft and lost its chewy texture.

Tatoeba

别狼吞虎咽的。你最好细嚼慢咽地吃。

Bié lángtūnhǔyàn de. nǐ zuì hǎo xìjiáomànyàn de chī.

Stop inhaling your food. You should eat a little slower.

Tatoeba

她在嚼口香糖,是吗?

Tā zài jiáo kǒuxiāngtáng, shì ma?

She's chewing gum, isn't she?

Tatoeba

食物在吞咽前要经过咀嚼。

Shíwù zài tūnyàn qián yào jīngguò jǔjué.

Food should be chewed before being swallowed.

Tatoeba

我不太能嚼东西。

Wǒ bù tài néng jiáo dōngxi.

I have difficulty chewing.

Character Family

Semantic Family — Characters sharing the 口 (mouth) component

Homophones — Characters pronounced jiáo

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 嚼 (jiáo) mean in Chinese?
嚼 (jiáo) primarily means "to chew." It is classified as HSK Level 7-9, making it an expert-level character. It ranks #2588 in character frequency.
How many strokes does 嚼 have?
嚼 is written with 20 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 嚼?
The radical associated with 嚼 is 口 (mouth). This radical appears in many characters related to mouth.
What are the components of 嚼?
嚼 is composed of: 口 (semantic), 爵 (phonetic). Its IDS decomposition is ⿰口爵 with a left-right layout. Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.
What are common words containing 嚼?
Common words with 嚼 include: 咀嚼 (jǔ jué, "to chew"); 嚼舌 (jiáo shé, "to gossip"); 味同嚼蜡 (wèi tóng jiáo là, "lit. tastes as if one is chewing wax (idiom)"); 咬嚼 (yǎo jiáo, "to chew"); 吃别人嚼过的馍不香 (chī bié rén jiáo guò de mó bù xiāng, "lit. bread previously chewed by someone has no flavor (idiom)"). There are over 19 compound words containing this character.
What characters sound the same as 嚼 (jiáo)?
Several characters share the pronunciation jiáo: 教 ((bound form) to teach), 交 (to hand over), 叫 (to call, to be called), 较 (compare, relatively), and 5 more. Context and tones help distinguish between them in speech and writing.
Is 嚼 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Yes, 嚼 is written the same way in both simplified and traditional Chinese.

Practice writing 嚼 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.