脚 (jiǎo): foot

脚 (jiǎo) is a Chinese character meaning “foot.” Classified as HSK Level 3 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of ⺼ (semantic) and 却 (phonetic). It ranks #790 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Etymologically derived, 脚 flesh. Its radical form 月 (moon) appears in many related characters such as 月 (yuè, moon, month), 有 (yǒu, to have), 朋 (péng, friend).

Spoken pronunciation

Definitions

  1. foot

Etymology & Origin

脚

pictophoneticflesh

Decomposition: ⿰⺼却 (layout: left-right)

Stroke Order

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11

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

Words & Compounds

HSK Vocabulary with 脚

WordPinyinMeaningHSK
脚步nounjiǎo bùfootstep5
脚印nounjiǎo yìnfootprint6

Common Compounds

WordPinyinMeaning
脚趾nounjiǎo zhǐtoe
手脚nounshǒu jiǎohand and foot
脚踝nounjiǎo huáiankle
脚下nounjiǎo xiàunder the foot
蹩脚adjectivebié jiǎoinferior
大脚noundà jiǎonaturally-formed feet (as opposed to bound feet 小腳|小脚)
指手画脚zhǐ shǒu huà jiǎoto gesticulate while talking (idiom)
脚趾头nounjiǎo zhǐ toutoe
脚尖nounjiǎo jiānthe extremity of the foot
脚踏车nounjiǎo tà chē(Tw) bicycle
脚底nounjiǎo dǐsoles of the feet
落脚verbluò jiǎoto stay for a time
动手动脚dòng shǒu dòng jiǎoto come to blows
脚跟jiǎo gēnheel
绊脚石nounbàn jiǎo shístumbling block
103
Total compounds
42
As first character
55
As last character
3
As middle character

脚 appears in 103 compound words: 42 as the first character, 55 as the last, and 3 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 脚 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.

踝huái
0.65016 co-occurrences
注zhù
0.60518,778 co-occurrences
绊bàn
0.572410 co-occurrences
踏tà
0.5081,164 co-occurrences
蹬dēng
0.493133 co-occurrences
兽shòu
0.4811,010 co-occurrences
踩cǎi
0.478410 co-occurrences
踢tī
0.429552 co-occurrences
踹chuài
0.41946 co-occurrences
裤kù
0.411120 co-occurrences

Idioms & Chengyu (21)

碍手碍脚àishǒu'àijiǎoHSK 6+

to be in the way; to be a hindrance

phrase
搬砖砸脚bān zhuān zá jiǎoHSK 7+

to hurt oneself by one's own doing; to boomerang; to shoot oneself in the foot (idiom)

phrase
笨手笨脚bènshǒubènjiǎoHSK 4+

clumsy; all thumbs

phrase
比手划脚bǐshǒuhuàjiǎoHSK 4+

alternative form of 比手畫腳 /比手画脚 (bǐshǒuhuàjiǎo)

phrase
赤脚医生chìjiǎo yīshēngHSK 7+

barefoot doctor

noun
从头到脚cóng tóu dào jiǎoHSK 3+

from head to foot

phrase
跌脚捶胸diē jiǎo chuí xiōngHSK 7+

lit. stamping and beating the chest (idiom); fig. angry or stressed about sth

phrase
动手动脚dòng shǒu dòng jiǎoHSK 3+

to come to blows; to paw; to grope

phrase
缚手缚脚fù shǒu fù jiǎoHSK 7+

(idiom) to be bound by too many restrictions

phrase
脚不沾地jiǎo bù zhān dìHSK 7+

feet not touching the ground (idiom); to run like the wind

phrase
脚踏实地jiǎotàshídìHSK 6+

to have one's feet on the ground; to be realistic and steady

phrase
七手八脚qīshǒubājiǎoHSK 3+

with many people lending a hand; chaotically

phrase

Showing 12 of 21 idioms containing 脚.

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

新鞋磨脚,走了一天后脚后跟起了水泡。

Xīn xié mó jiǎo, zǒu le yì tiān hòu jiǎo hòugēn qǐ le shuǐpào.

New shoes rub against the feet; after walking all day, blisters formed on the heels.

UdnnewsindexFeb 2026

历史上的今天/1958年台南安定乌脚病患赴台大医院治疗

lì shǐ shàng de jīn tiān 1 9 5 8 nián tái nán ān dìng wū jiǎo bìng huàn fù tái dà yī yuàn zhì liáo

Today in history/In 1958, a black-footed patient in Anding, Tainan went to National Taiwan University Hospital for treatment

UdnnewsindexFeb 2026

健康主题馆/懒人减重法 抖脚、转笔、做家事、站着说话都行

jiàn kāng zhǔ tí guǎn lǎn rén jiǎn chóng fǎ dǒu jiǎo , zhuǎn bǐ , zuò jiā shì , zhàn zhe shuō huà dōu háng

Health theme hall/lazy weight loss method Shake your feet, turn the pen, do housework, stand and talk

大紀元 | 大紀元新聞網Feb 2026

冬天手脚冰冷 中医教你经络保养术

dōng tiān shǒu jiǎo bīng lěng zhōng yī jiào nǐ jīng lào bǎo yǎng shù

In winter, your hands and feet are cold, and traditional Chinese medicine teaches you meridian maintenance techniques

百度新闻Feb 2026

马年“识局”6 | 不想当“跛脚鸭”,特朗普能否守..

mǎ nián shí jú 6 bù xiǎng dāng 跛 jiǎo yā , tè lǎng pǔ néng fǒu shǒu . .

Year of the Horse "Knowing the Situation" 6 | If you don't want to be a "lame duck", can Trump keep it?

百度新闻Feb 2026

长城脚下天天有精彩,热闹至初七!怀柔民俗展演引...

cháng chéng jiǎo xià tiān tiān yǒu jīng cǎi , rè nào zhì chū qī ! huái róu mín sú zhǎn yǎn yǐn . . .

Every day at the foot of the Great Wall, until the seventh day of the Lunar New Year! Huairou Folklore Show...

Tatoeba

脚上的伤是怎么回事?

Jiǎo shàng de shāng shì zěnmehuíshì?

How did you get this injury on your foot?

Tatoeba

脚踝脚踝你在哪里?

Jiǎohuái jiǎohuái nǐ zài nǎlǐ?

Ankle, ankle, where are you?

Tatoeba

你最后一次赤脚在草地上走是什么时候?

Nǐ zuìhòu yī cì chìjiǎo zài cǎodì shàng zǒu shì shénme shíhou?

When was the last time you walked barefoot on a meadow?

Tatoeba

你什么时候买的这辆脚踏车?

Nǐ shénmeshíhou mǎi de zhè liàng jiǎotàchē?

When did you buy this bicycle?

Character Family

Semantic Family — Characters sharing the ⺼ (flesh) component

Homophones — Characters pronounced jiǎo

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 脚 (jiǎo) mean in Chinese?
脚 (jiǎo) primarily means "foot." It is classified as HSK Level 3, making it a beginner-level character. It ranks #790 in character frequency.
How many strokes does 脚 have?
脚 is written with 11 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 脚?
The radical associated with 脚 is 月 (moon). This radical appears in many characters related to moon.
What are the components of 脚?
脚 is composed of: ⺼ (semantic), 却 (phonetic). Its IDS decomposition is ⿰⺼却 with a left-right layout. Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.
What are common words containing 脚?
Common words with 脚 include: 脚趾 (jiǎo zhǐ, "toe"); 手脚 (shǒu jiǎo, "hand and foot"); 脚踝 (jiǎo huái, "ankle"); 脚下 (jiǎo xià, "under the foot"); 脚步 (jiǎo bù, "footstep"). There are over 103 compound words containing this character.
What characters sound the same as 脚 (jiǎo)?
Several characters share the pronunciation jiǎo: 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 脚 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
No. The simplified form is 脚 and the traditional form is 腳.

Practice writing 脚 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.