焦 (jiāo): anxious, burnt
焦 (jiāo) is a Chinese character meaning “anxious, burnt.” Classified as HSK Level 6 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of 隹 (structural) and 灬 (structural). It ranks #1544 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).
Etymologically derived, 焦 a bird 隹 getting its tail singed 灬. Its radical form 灬 (fire) appears in many related characters such as 点 (diǎn, point, o'clock), 热 (rè, hot, to heat), 然 (rán, nature, thus).
Definitions
- anxious, burnt
Etymology & Origin
ideographicA bird 隹 getting its tail singed 灬
Decomposition: ⿱隹灬 (layout: top-bottom)
Stroke Order
Practice writing 焦 with real-time feedback — trace each stroke in the correct order and build muscle memory in the HanziFeed app.
Words & Compounds
HSK Vocabulary with 焦
Common Compounds
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 聚焦verb | jù jiāo | to focus (light, electron beam etc) |
| 焦急adjective | jiāo jí | anxiety |
| 焦头烂额phrase | jiāo tóu làn é | lit. badly burned about the head (from trying to put out a fire) (idiom) |
| 焦躁adjective | jiāo zào | fretful |
| 焦糖noun | jiāo táng | caramel |
| 焦虑不安 | jiāo lǜ bù ān | worried too much |
| 焦油noun | jiāo yóu | tar |
| 焦距noun | jiāo jù | focal length |
| 焦耳proper-noun | jiāo ěr | (loanword) joule |
| 焦黄 | jiāo huáng | sallow |
| 焦土noun | jiāo tǔ | scorched earth |
| 焦炭noun | jiāo tàn | coke (processed coal used in blast furnace) |
| 心焦adjective | xīn jiāo | worried |
| 调焦 | tiáo jiāo | to focus |
| 焦灼adjective | jiāo zhuó | (literary) deeply worried |
焦 appears in 45 compound words: 53 as the first character, 36 as the last, and 11 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 焦 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.
Idioms & Chengyu (1)
Example Sentences
客户一直在催促交货，项目经理这几天很焦虑。
Kèhù yìzhí zài cuīcù jiāohuò, xiàngmù jīnglǐ zhè jǐ tiān hěn jiāolǜ.
The customer has been urging delivery, and the project manager has been very anxious these past few days.
新闻中的法律/遗赠税修法 两议题聚焦
xīn wén zhōng de fǎ lǜ yí zèng shuì xiū fǎ liǎng yì tí jù jiāo
The law/bequest tax amendment in the news focuses on two issues
美日磋商延伸威懾 聚焦中國增強核戰力
měi rì cuō shāng yán shēn wēi 懾 jù jiāo zhōng 國 zēng 強 hé 戰 lì
U.S.-Japan Talks on Extended Deterrence Focus on China's Growing Nuclear Capabilities
...隊躍領漲先鋒 將是大盤上衝34,000點焦點
. . . 隊 躍 領 漲 xiān 鋒 將 shì dà 盤 shàng 衝 , 點 jiāo 點
... Team Leader will be the focus of the market's push to 34,000 points.
新春茶敘 賴總統會五院聚焦關稅
xīn chūn chá 敘 賴 總 統 會 wǔ yuàn jù jiāo 關 稅
New Year's Tea Party: President Rhee Focuses on Tariffs in Five Chambers
洗面奶什么牌子好?聚焦公认好用的洗面奶年终榜TOP..
xǐ miàn nǎi shén má pái zǐ hǎo ? jù jiāo gōng rèn hǎo yòng de xǐ miàn nǎi nián zhōng bǎng . .
Which brand of facial cleanser is best? Focus on the year-end list of top-rated facial cleansers...
我为你的殿，心里焦急，如同火烧。
Wǒ wèi nǐ de diàn, xīnli jiāojí, rútóng huǒshāo.
Zeal for your house will consume me.
最近频繁的地震让我们很焦虑。
Zuì jìn pínfán de dìzhèn ràng wǒmen hěn jiāolǜ.
The recent frequency of earthquakes makes us nervous.
考试前夕，他特别焦虑。
Kǎoshì qiánxī, tā tèbié jiāolǜ.
He was very anxious on the eve of the exam.
解决考前焦虑的办法是立刻开始学习。
Jiějué kǎo qián jiāolǜ de bànfǎ shì lìkè kāishǐ xuéxí.
The way to solve pre-exam anxiety is to start learning now.
Character Family
Frequently Asked Questions
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Is 焦 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
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