浇 (jiāo): to pour liquid, to irrigate (using waterwheel), to water

浇 (jiāo) is a Chinese character meaning “to pour liquid.” Classified as HSK Level 5 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of 氵 (semantic) and 尧 (phonetic). It ranks #2674 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Etymologically derived, 浇 water. Its radical form 氵 (water) appears in many related characters such as 水 (shuǐ, water), 汉 (hàn, Han ethnic group), 汽 (qì, steam).

Spoken pronunciation

Definitions

  1. to pour liquid
  2. to irrigate (using waterwheel)
  3. to water

Etymology & Origin

浇

pictophoneticwater

Decomposition: ⿰氵尧 (layout: left-right)

Stroke Order

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9

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

Words & Compounds

Common Compounds

WordPinyinMeaning
浇水verbjiāo shuǐto water (plants etc)
火上浇油phrasehuǒ shàng jiāo yóuto pour oil on the fire (idiom)
浇灌verbjiāo guànto water
浇头nounjiāo toutopping (mixture of ingredients and sauce poured over noodles or rice, esp. in Shanghainese cuisine)
浇铸verbjiāo zhùto cast (molten metal)
盖浇饭noungài jiāo fànrice with meat and vegetables
浇注verbjiāo zhùto pour (molten metal, concrete etc) into a mold
浇筑verbjiāo zhùto pour (concrete etc)
浇冷水jiāo lěng shuǐto pour cold water
浇花verbjiāo huāto water the plants
借酒浇愁phrasejiè jiǔ jiāo chóu(idiom) to drown one's sorrows
11
Total compounds
73
As first character
0
As last character
27
As middle character

浇 appears in 11 compound words: 73 as the first character, 0 as the last, and 27 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 浇 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.

薯shǔ
0.557224 co-occurrences
凝níng
0.543450 co-occurrences
筑zhù
0.5211,292 co-occurrences
灌guàn
0.514312 co-occurrences
铸zhù
0.489162 co-occurrences
混hùn
0.452496 co-occurrences
盖gài
0.445244 co-occurrences
筋jīn
0.44374 co-occurrences
汁zhī
0.43972 co-occurrences
愁chóu
0.43344 co-occurrences

Idioms & Chengyu (2)

火上浇油huǒshàngjiāoyóuHSK 5+

to add fuel to the fire (to worsen a conflict)

phrase
借酒浇愁jièjiǔjiāochóuHSK 6+

to drown one's sorrows

phrase

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

清晨的浇面波光粼粼,倒映着岸边的柳树。

qīng chén de jiāo miàn bō guāng 粼 粼 , dǎo yìng zhe àn biān de liǔ shù .

The early morning water shimmered with ripples, reflecting the willow trees along the shore.

少数派Aug 2026

然而,在经过一段时间的真实使用后,这台手机给我浇了一盆冷水。

rán ér , zài jīng guò yī duàn shí jiān de zhēn shí shǐ yòng hòu , zhè tái shǒu jī gěi wǒ jiāo le yī pén lěng shuǐ .

However, after using it in real-life situations for a while, this phone was a real letdown.

中国新闻网·文化Jul 2026

对音乐的喜爱,后来浇灌出了写作的花朵。

duì yīn lè de xǐ ài , hòu lái jiāo guàn chū le xiě zuò de huā duǒ .

A love of music eventually blossomed into a passion for writing.

中時新聞網Mar 2026

知名电子厂男惊爆虐猫!隔袋狠揍、莲蓬头浇水灌顶 警方出手了

zhī míng diàn zǐ hǎn nán jīng bào nüè māo ! gé dài hěn zòu , lián péng tóu jiāo shuǐ guàn dǐng jǐng fāng chū shǒu le

Man at Well-Known Electronics Factory Accused of Cat Abuse! Beating the Cat Through a Bag and Dousing It with Water from a Showerhead—Police Have Stepped In

光明网_新闻视野、文化视角、思想深度、理论高度Mar 2026

暗杀行动火上浇油,中东危局难见拐点

àn shā háng dòng huǒ shàng jiāo yóu , zhōng dōng wēi jú nán jiàn guǎi diǎn

Assassination adds fuel to the fire; no end in sight for the Middle East crisis

LtnFeb 2026

美PPI冲高浇熄联准会降息预期 道琼开盘一度跌近800...

měi P P I chōng gāo jiāo xī lián zhǔn huì jiàng xī yù qī dào 琼 kāi pán yī dù diē jìn 8 0 0 . . .

The rise in U.S. PPI extinguished expectations of a Fed interest rate cut, and the Dow Jones fell nearly 800 at the opening...

Tatoeba

你借酒浇愁是为了什么事?

Nǐ jièjiǔjiāochóu shì wèile shénmeshì?

What pain are you trying to cover up with alcohol?

Tatoeba

你可不可以帮忙除草浇花?

Nǐ kě bù kěyǐ bāngmáng chú cǎo jiāo huā?

Could you please pull the weeds and water the flowers?

Tatoeba

你最后一次给花园浇水在什么时候?

Nǐ zuì hòu yīcì gěi huāyuán jiāoshuǐ zài shénmeshíhou?

When was the last time you watered the garden?

Tatoeba

您吃早餐前给植物浇水。

Nín chī zǎocān qián gěi zhíwù jiāoshuǐ.

Water the plants before eating breakfast.

Character Family

Semantic Family — Characters sharing the 氵 (water) component

Homophones — Characters pronounced jiāo

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 浇 (jiāo) mean in Chinese?
浇 (jiāo) primarily means "to pour liquid." It is classified as HSK Level 5, making it an advanced character. It ranks #2674 in character frequency.
What's the difference between 浇 and 烧?
浇 (jiāo) and 烧 (shāo) are often confused. confusable. The key distinguishing feature: 氵 vs 火 (same 尧 component).
How many strokes does 浇 have?
浇 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 浇?
The radical associated with 浇 is 氵 (water). This radical appears in many characters related to water.
What are the components of 浇?
浇 is composed of: 氵 (semantic), 尧 (phonetic). Its IDS decomposition is ⿰氵尧 with a left-right layout. Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.
What are common words containing 浇?
Common words with 浇 include: 浇水 (jiāo shuǐ, "to water (plants etc)"); 火上浇油 (huǒ shàng jiāo yóu, "to pour oil on the fire (idiom)"); 浇灌 (jiāo guàn, "to water"); 浇头 (jiāo tou, "topping (mixture of ingredients and sauce poured over noodles or rice, esp. in Shanghainese cuisine)"); 浇铸 (jiāo zhù, "to cast (molten metal)"). There are over 11 compound words containing this character.
What characters sound the same as 浇 (jiāo)?
Several characters share the pronunciation jiāo: 教 ((bound form) to teach), 交 (to hand over). Context and tones help distinguish between them in speech and writing.
Is 浇 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Yes, 浇 is written the same way in both simplified and traditional Chinese.

Practice writing 浇 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.