(jiāo): to hand over, to deliver, to pay (money), to turn over, to make friends, (of lines) to intersect

(jiāo) is a Chinese character meaning “to hand over.” Classified as HSK Level 2 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of (structural) and (structural). It ranks #320 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Etymologically derived, a person with crossed (intersecting) legs. Its radical form (lid) appears in many related characters such as (jīng, capital city of a country), (liàng, bright), (chǎn, to give birth).

Native pronunciation

Definitions

  1. to hand over
  2. to deliver
  3. to pay (money)
  4. to turn over
  5. to make friends
  6. (of lines) to intersect

Etymology & Origin

ideographicA person with crossed (intersecting) legs

Decomposition: ⿱六乂 (layout: top-bottom)

Stroke Order

1
2
3
4
5
6

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

Words & Compounds

HSK Vocabulary with

WordPinyinMeaningHSK
verb/nounjiāo yìto deal5
noungōng jiāo chēpublic transport vehicle2
verbjiāo liúto exchange4
verbjiāo huànto exchange5
nounjiāo tōngto be connected4
verbjiāo wǎngto associate (with)5
verbjiāo tánto discuss6
verbchéng jiāoto complete a contract6
dǎ jiāo dàoto come into contact with6
nounwài jiāodiplomacy6
tí jiāoto submit (a report etc)5
verbzhuǎn jiāoto pass on to sb6
nounjiāo jǐngtraffic police (abbr. for 交通警察[jiao1 tong1 jing3 cha2])4

Common Compounds

WordPinyinMeaning
jiāo gěito give
jiāo chāto cross
jiāo chūto hand over
gōng jiāopublic transportation
jiāo dàito transfer (duties to sb else)
jiāo dàivariant of 交代[jiao1 dai4]
jiāo pèimating
jiāo huǒto exchange fire
jiāo jìcommunication
dì jiāoto present
jiāo qingfriendship
jiāo shèto negotiate (with)
jiāo huánto return sth
jiāo huòto deliver goods
jiāo jí(of diverse emotions) to occur simultaneously
100
Total compounds
76
As first character
22
As last character
2
As middle character

appears in 100 compound words: 76 as the first character, 22 as the last, and 2 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 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.

chā
0.658132,024 co-occurrences
tōng
0.6531,021,113 co-occurrences
0.596283,933 co-occurrences
liú
0.550322,740 co-occurrences
huì
0.53863,660 co-occurrences
0.53428,524 co-occurrences
guǐ
0.52872,606 co-occurrences
huàn
0.51572,930 co-occurrences
0.51079,872 co-occurrences
wài
0.510475,914 co-occurrences

Idioms & Chengyu (31)

ài hèn jiāo zhīHSK 6+

mixture of love and hate

phrase
bābàizhījiāoHSK 6+

sworn brotherhood; intimacy of relations between platonic friends

phrase
bēixǐ-jiāojíHSK 6+

mixed feelings of grief and joy

phrase
děngjià jiāohuànHSK 4+

exchange of equal value

noun
fànfànzhījiāoHSK 5+

nodding acquaintance; acquaintance that one is not on intimate terms with

noun
gōng píng jiāo yìHSK 3+

fair dealing

phrase
huànnànzhījiāoHSK 6+

a rock (a friend who always helps); a friend through thick and thin

phrase
jīhánjiāopòHSK 6+

cold and hungry at the same time; extremely impoverished

adjective
jiāobìshīzhīHSK 6+

to narrowly miss a golden opportunity (to meet someone etc.)

phrase
jiāochā gǎnrǎnHSK 5+

cross-infection

noun
jiāokǒuchēngyùHSK 6+

to unanimously praise

phrase
jiāoqiǎnyánshēnHSK 5+

to have deep conversations with an acquaintance

phrase

Showing 12 of 31 idioms containing .

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

字在日常生活中使用频率很高。

jiāo zì zài rì cháng shēng huó zhōng shǐ yòng pín lǜ hěn gāo .

The character "交" is used very frequently in daily life.

中国新闻网_梳理天下新闻Feb 2026

阿曼外大臣:美伊下一轮谈判将于26日在日内瓦举...

ā 曼 wài jiāo dà chén : měi yī xià yī lún tán pàn jiāng yú 2 6 rì zài rì nèi wǎ jǔ . . .

Oman Foreign Minister: The next round of negotiations between the United States and Iran will be held in Geneva on the 26th...

中国新闻网_梳理天下新闻Feb 2026

(米兰冬奥会)惊喜与突破织 中国冰雪向新而行

( mǐ lán dōng ào huì ) jīng xǐ yǔ tū pò jiāo zhī zhōng guó bīng xuě xiàng xīn ér háng

(Milan Winter Olympics) Surprises and breakthroughs are intertwined, and China's ice and snow are moving towards the new

東方日報Feb 2026

美高官指如伊朗48小时内提核协议草案 料美伊周五谈判

měi gāo guān zhǐ rú yī lǎng 4 8 xiǎo shí nèi tí jiāo hé xié yì cǎo àn liào měi yī zhōu wǔ tán pàn

Senior U.S. officials said that if Iran submits a draft nuclear agreement within 48 hours, the United States and Iran are expected to negotiate on Friday

今天的經理人Feb 2026

羡慕善于社的同事,总是想改变自己?你只是没看见自己...

xiàn mù shàn yú shè jiāo de tóng shì , zǒng shì xiǎng gǎi biàn zì jǐ ? nǐ zhī shì méi kàn jiàn zì jǐ . . .

Envy your sociable colleagues and always want to change yourself? You just don't see yourself...

百度新闻Feb 2026

千城百县看中国·护航春运丨河北通:智慧高速守护假..

qiān chéng bǎi xiàn kàn zhōng guó hù háng chūn yùn 丨 hé běi jiāo tōng : zhì huì gāo sù shǒu hù jiǎ . .

Thousands of cities and counties look at China and escort the Spring Festival丨Hebei Transportation: Smart highway guards the holiday:

Tatoeba

你几岁了第一个女朋友?

Nǐ jǐsuì jiāo le dìyī gè nǚpéngyou?

At what age did you have your first girlfriend?

Tatoeba

你能告诉我能在哪里上公车吗?

Nǐ néng gàosu wǒ néng zài nǎlǐ shàng gōngjiāochē ma?

Could you tell me where I can get a bus?

Tatoeba

去医院要坐哪一路公

Qù yīyuàn yào zuò nǎ yīlù gōngjiāo?

How can I get to the hospital by bus?

Tatoeba

我怎么能忘记您付我的任务?

Wǒ zěnme néng wàngjì nín jiāofù wǒ de rènwu?

How could I possibly forget about the task that you've entrusted to me?

Character Family

Homophones — Characters pronounced jiāo

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 交 (jiāo) mean in Chinese?
交 (jiāo) primarily means "to hand over." It is classified as HSK Level 2, making it a beginner-level character. It ranks #320 in character frequency.
How many strokes does 交 have?
交 is written with 6 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 交?
The radical associated with 交 is 亠 (lid). This radical appears in many characters related to lid.
What are the components of 交?
交 is composed of: 六 (structural), 乂 (structural). Its IDS decomposition is ⿱六乂 with a top-bottom layout. Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.
What are common words containing 交?
Common words with 交 include: 交易 (jiāo yì, "to deal"); 交给 (jiāo gěi, "to give"); 公交车 (gōng jiāo chē, "public transport vehicle"); 交流 (jiāo liú, "to exchange"); 交换 (jiāo huàn, "to exchange"). There are over 100 compound words containing this character.
What characters sound the same as 交 (jiāo)?
Several characters share the pronunciation jiāo: 郊 (suburbs), 骄 (proud), 胶 (to glue), 蕉 (banana), and 6 more. Context and tones help distinguish between them in speech and writing.
Is 交 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Yes, 交 is written the same way in both simplified and traditional Chinese.

Practice writing with real-time feedback

Trace stroke sequences, hear native 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.