(jiāo): pepper

(jiāo) is a Chinese character meaning “pepper.” Classified as HSK Level 6 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of (semantic) and (phonetic). It ranks #2837 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Etymologically derived, tree. Its radical form (tree) appears in many related characters such as (běn, (bound form) root), (, machine, opportunity), (tiáo, strip).

Native pronunciation

Definitions

  1. pepper

Etymology & Origin

pictophonetictree

Decomposition: ⿰木叔 (layout: left-right)

Stroke Order

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12

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
nounlà jiāohot pepper6

Common Compounds

WordPinyinMeaning
hú jiāopepper
là jiāo jiàngred pepper paste
hú jiāo fěnground pepper (i.e. powder)
jiāo yánseasoning mix of Sichuan pepper powder and salt
qīng jiāoCapsicum annuum
huā jiāoSichuan pepper
shì zi jiāobell pepper, aka sweet pepper
fān jiāohot pepper
zhǐ tiān jiāosee 朝天椒[chao2 tian1 jiao1]
yá mǎi jiā hú jiāoJamaican pepper
yìn dù guǐ jiāosee 斷魂椒|断魂椒[duan4 hun2 jiao1]
xiǎo mǐ jiāosame as 朝天椒[chao2 tian1 jiao1]
cháng wěi shān jiāo niǎo(bird species of China) long-tailed minivet (Pericrocotus ethologus)
xiǎo huī shān jiāo niǎo(bird species of China) Swinhoe's minivet (Pericrocotus cantonensis)
cháo tiān jiāochili pepper (Capsicum frutescens var)
51
Total compounds
6
As first character
55
As last character
39
As middle character

appears in 51 compound words: 6 as the first character, 55 as the last, and 39 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.

0.78518,897 co-occurrences
0.61314,221 co-occurrences
jiàng
0.522708 co-occurrences
suàn
0.486384 co-occurrences
chǎo
0.454552 co-occurrences
fěn
0.4491,974 co-occurrences
cōng
0.445204 co-occurrences
0.421294 co-occurrences
zhàn
0.41754 co-occurrences
0.413192 co-occurrences

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

是川菜的重要调料。

Làjiāo shì Chuāncài de zhòngyào tiáoliào.

Pepper is an important seasoning in Sichuan cuisine.

Nownews今日新聞Mar 2026

...饶河夜市!陈静大嗑小吃:吃到人生最好吃胡

. . . ráo hé yè shì ! chén jìng dà 嗑 xiǎo chī : chī dào rén shēng zuì hǎo chī hú jiāo bǐng

TvbsMar 2026

...气“拒检拒测”狂逃2km 喊学长仍遭喷辣

. . . qì jù jiǎn jù cè kuáng táo 2 k m hǎn xué cháng réng zāo pēn là jiāo shuǐ

SmzdmMar 2026

坚持2年辣喂鱼!鱼塘养出极品靓鱼,体型口感双逆袭,...

jiān chí 2 nián là jiāo wéi yú ! yú táng yǎng chū jí pǐn 靓 yú , tǐ xíng kǒu gǎn shuāng nì xí , . . .

After two years of feeding fish with chili peppers, the pond has produced top-quality fish—a remarkable transformation in both appearance and taste...

99 健康网Mar 2026

成人大香蕉煮小辣的功效是什么 这种独特搭配真的有效吗

chéng rén dà xiāng jiāo zhǔ xiǎo là jiāo de gōng xiào shì shén má zhè zhǒng dú tè dā pèi zhēn de yǒu xiào ma

What is the effect of boiling small peppers in large bananas for adults Is this unique combination really effective?

UdnnewsindexMar 2026

警匪追逐!女通缉犯喷辣水拒捕逃逸 警开枪逮男友策动抓回她

jǐng fěi zhuī zhú ! nǚ tōng jī fàn pēn là jiāo shuǐ jù bǔ táo yì jǐng kāi qiāng dǎi nán yǒu cè dòng zhuā huí tā

Police chase! The female wanted criminal sprayed pepper water to resist arrest and escaped, and the police shot and arrested her boyfriend and instigated her to be arrested

Tatoeba

按口味加盐和胡粉。

àn kǒuwèi jiā yán hé hújiāofěn.

Add salt and pepper to taste.

Tatoeba

玛丽的包里有辣喷雾。

Mǎlì de bāo lǐ yǒu làjiāo pēnwù.

Mary carries pepper spray in her purse.

Tatoeba

能把胡递给我吗?

Néng bǎ hújiāo dì gěi wǒ ma?

Could you please pass me the pepper?

Tatoeba

我不要红色的柿子, 而是要绿色的。

Wǒ bù yào hóngsè de shìzijiāo, érshì yào lǜsè de.

I don't want red bell peppers, I want green ones.

Character Family

Homophones — Characters pronounced jiāo

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 椒 (jiāo) mean in Chinese?
椒 (jiāo) primarily means "pepper." It is classified as HSK Level 6, making it an advanced character. It ranks #2837 in character frequency.
What's the difference between 椒 and 寂?
椒 (jiāo) and 寂 (jì) are often confused. confusable. The key distinguishing feature: 木 vs 宀 (same 叔 component).
How many strokes does 椒 have?
椒 is written with 12 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 椒?
The radical associated with 椒 is 木 (tree). This radical appears in many characters related to tree.
What are the components of 椒?
椒 is composed of: 木 (semantic), 叔 (phonetic). Its IDS decomposition is ⿰木叔 with a left-right layout. Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.
What are common words containing 椒?
Common words with 椒 include: 辣椒 (là jiāo, "hot pepper"); 胡椒 (hú jiāo, "pepper"); 辣椒酱 (là jiāo jiàng, "red pepper paste"); 胡椒粉 (hú jiāo fěn, "ground pepper (i.e. powder)"); 椒盐 (jiāo yán, "seasoning mix of Sichuan pepper powder and salt"). There are over 51 compound words containing this character.
What characters sound the same as 椒 (jiāo)?
Several characters share the pronunciation jiāo: 交 (to hand over), 郊 (suburbs), 胶 (to glue), 蕉 (banana), and 4 more. Context and tones help distinguish between them in speech and writing.
Is 椒 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Yes, 椒 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.