骄 (jiāo): proud, arrogant

骄 (jiāo) is a Chinese character meaning “proud.” Classified as HSK Level 4 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of 马 (structural) and 乔 (structural). It ranks #2192 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Etymologically derived, 骄 a proud 乔 horse 马; 乔 also provides the pronunciation. Its radical form 马 (horse) appears in many related characters such as 马 (mǎ, horse), 骑 (qí, to ride), 验 (yàn, to test, to verify).

Spoken pronunciation

Definitions

  1. proud
  2. arrogant

Etymology & Origin

骄

ideographicA proud 乔 horse 马; 乔 also provides the pronunciation

Decomposition: ⿰马乔 (layout: left-right)

Stroke Order

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9

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

Words & Compounds

HSK Vocabulary with 骄

WordPinyinMeaningHSK
骄傲adjective/nounjiāo àopride4

Common Compounds

WordPinyinMeaning
骄阳nounjiāo yángblazing sun
骄兵必败phrasejiāo bīng bì bàilit. an arrogant army is bound to lose (idiom)
骄人nounjiāo rénworthy of pride
骄气nounjiāo qiarrogance
骄矜adjectivejiāo jīnhaughty
骄横adjectivejiāo hèngarrogant
虚心使人进步,骄傲使人落后xū xīn shǐ rén jìn bù , jiāo ào shǐ rén luò hòumodesty leads to progress, arrogance makes you fall behind (quote of Mao Zedong)
骄者必败jiāo zhě bì bàipride goes before a fall (idiom)
骄阳似火jiāo yáng sì huǒthe sun shines fiercely
胜不骄,败不馁shèng bù jiāo , bài bù něino arrogance in victory, no despair in defeat
骄纵adjectivejiāo zòngarrogant and willful
戒骄戒躁jiè jiāo jiè zàoto guard against pride and impatience (idiom)
骄奢淫佚jiāo shē yín yìvariant of 驕奢淫逸|骄奢淫逸
骄奢淫逸phrasejiāo shē yín yìextravagant and dissipated
15
Total compounds
80
As first character
0
As last character
20
As middle character

骄 appears in 15 compound words: 80 as the first character, 0 as the last, and 20 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 骄 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.

傲ào
0.8072,964 co-occurrences
奢shē
0.529194 co-occurrences
横héng
0.501462 co-occurrences
侈chǐ
0.48776 co-occurrences
纵zòng
0.486306 co-occurrences
宠chǒng
0.472104 co-occurrences
怠dài
0.43834 co-occurrences
惰duò
0.42930 co-occurrences
躁zào
0.41738 co-occurrences
孩hái
0.414324 co-occurrences

Idioms & Chengyu (5)

骄兵必败jiāobīngbìbàiHSK 6+

the conceited army which underestimates its opponent is bound to lose

phrase
骄者必败jiāo zhě bì bàiHSK 4+

pride goes before a fall (idiom)

phrase
戒骄戒躁jiè jiāo jiè zàoHSK 7+

to guard against pride and impatience (idiom); to remain modest and keep cool

phrase
骄奢淫逸jiāoshēyínyìHSK 7+

extravagant and dissipated; decadent

phrase
骄奢淫佚jiāo shē yín yìHSK 7+

variant of 驕奢淫逸|骄奢淫逸

phrase

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

骄字虽然难写,但意思很有趣。

jiāo zì suī rán nán xiě , dàn yì sī hěn yǒu qù .

The character "骄" may be difficult to write, but its meaning is quite interesting.

中国新闻网·体育Aug 2026

王祉怡在赛后采访中坦言,这是一场非常艰难的比赛,她对自己的表现感到骄傲。

wáng 祉 yí zài sài hòu cǎi fǎng zhōng tǎn yán , zhè shì yī chǎng fēi cháng jiān nán de bǐ sài , tā duì zì jǐ de biǎo xiàn gǎn dào jiāo ào .

In a post-match interview, Wang Ziyi admitted that it had been a very tough match, and she was proud of her performance.

中国新闻网·文化Aug 2026

团队成员的成长,让李黎欣慰且骄傲。

tuán duì chéng yuán de chéng cháng , ràng lǐ lí xīn wèi qiě jiāo ào .

Li Li feels both gratified and proud of her team members’ growth.

中国新闻网·文化Aug 2026

铁生不会说这种骄傲的话,铁生只会说谦虚的话。

tiě shēng bù huì shuō zhè zhǒng jiāo ào de huà , tiě shēng zhī huì shuō qiān xū de huà .

Tiesheng would never say such boastful things; he only speaks with humility.

中国新闻网·文化Aug 2026

回望表演历程,他说一路走来,有值得骄傲的高光瞬间,也曾有崩溃的时刻。

huí wàng biǎo yǎn lì chéng , tā shuō yī lù zǒu lái , yǒu zhí dé jiāo ào de gāo guāng shùn jiān , yě céng yǒu bēng kuì de shí kè .

Looking back on his career as a performer, he said that along the way, there have been proud, memorable moments, as well as times when he felt completely overwhelmed.

東方日報Mar 2026

【W/P过关】诸葛数:电讯骄阳磨利求突破

W P guò guān zhū 葛 shǔ : diàn xùn jiāo yáng mó lì qiú tū pò

[W/P Pass] Zhuge Shu: Telecom Sun Sharpens Its Edge in Search of a Breakthrough

Tatoeba

玛丽太骄傲了,不是吗?

Mǎlì tài jiāo'ào le, bùshìma?

Mary is very arrogant, isn't she?

Tatoeba

他很难掩饰对自己成功的骄傲。

Tā hěn nán yǎnshì duì zìjǐ chénggōng de jiāo'ào.

It was difficult for him to hide his pride in his success.

Tatoeba

那位女生对自己的美貌感到很骄傲。

Nà wèi nǚshēng duì zìjǐ de měimào gǎndào hěn jiāo'ào.

That girl is arrogant because of her beauty.

Tatoeba

骄傲使我无法向他借钱。

Jiāo'ào shǐ wǒ wúfǎ xiàng tā jièqián.

My pride prevented me from borrowing money from him.

Character Family

Homophones — Characters pronounced jiāo

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 骄 (jiāo) mean in Chinese?
骄 (jiāo) primarily means "proud." It is classified as HSK Level 4, making it an upper-intermediate character. It ranks #2192 in character frequency.
How many strokes does 骄 have?
骄 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 骄?
The radical associated with 骄 is 马 (horse). This radical appears in many characters related to horse.
What are the components of 骄?
骄 is composed of: 马 (structural), 乔 (structural). Its IDS decomposition is ⿰马乔 with a left-right layout. Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.
What are common words containing 骄?
Common words with 骄 include: 骄傲 (jiāo ào, "pride"); 骄阳 (jiāo yáng, "blazing sun"); 骄兵必败 (jiāo bīng bì bài, "lit. an arrogant army is bound to lose (idiom)"); 骄人 (jiāo rén, "worthy of pride"); 骄气 (jiāo qi, "arrogance"). There are over 15 compound words containing this character.
What characters sound the same as 骄 (jiāo)?
Several characters share the pronunciation jiāo: 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 骄 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Yes, 骄 is written the same way in both simplified and traditional Chinese.

Practice writing 骄 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.