(jiǎo): to correct, to rectify, to redress, strong, brave, to pretend

(jiǎo) is a Chinese character meaning “to correct.” Classified as HSK Level 7-9 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of (semantic) and (phonetic). It ranks #2700 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Etymologically derived, arrow. Its radical form (arrow) appears in many related characters such as (duǎn, short), (ǎi, (of a person) short), (shǐ, arrow).

Native pronunciation

Definitions

  1. to correct
  2. to rectify
  3. to redress
  4. strong
  5. brave
  6. to pretend

Etymology & Origin

pictophoneticarrow

Decomposition: ⿰矢乔 (layout: left-right)

Stroke Order

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11

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

Words & Compounds

Common Compounds

WordPinyinMeaning
jiǎo zhèngto correct
jiǎo xíngorthopedic (e.g. surgery)
jiǎo jiànstrong and healthy
jiǎo róu zào zuòpretension
jiǎo wǎng guò zhèngto overcorrect (idiom)
jiǎo zhìto correct (e.g. sight or hearing)
jiǎo jiévigorous and nimble
jiǎo xíng yī shēngorthopedic doctor
jiǎo xíng wài kēorthopedic surgery
jiǎo zhí jī(manufacturing) straightening machine
齿chǐ liè jiǎo zhèng qìsee 牙齒矯正器|牙齿矫正器[ya2 chi3 jiao3 zheng4 qi4]
齿yá chǐ jiǎo zhèng qìorthodontic braces
jiǎo zhèng tòu jìngcorrecting lens
jiǎo xíng yá tàoorthodontic brace
齿chǐ liè jiǎo zhèngorthodontic treatment
23
Total compounds
83
As first character
0
As last character
17
As middle character

appears in 23 compound words: 83 as the first character, 0 as the last, and 17 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.

wǎng
0.587408 co-occurrences
róu
0.575300 co-occurrences
zhèng
0.4423,444 co-occurrences
wán
0.43666 co-occurrences
0.42966 co-occurrences
xiàn
0.40730 co-occurrences
zhǐ
0.394252 co-occurrences
hún
0.39454 co-occurrences
zhóu
0.383150 co-occurrences
zhà
0.38048 co-occurrences

Idioms & Chengyu (3)

jiǎoróuzàozuòHSK 7+

affected; artificial; fakey

phrase
jiǎowǎngguòzhèngHSK 7+

to overcorrect; to hypercorrect; to overcompensate

phrase
jiǎo wǎng guò zhíHSK 7+

see 矯枉過正|矫枉过正[jiao3 wang3 guo4 zheng4]

phrase

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

字在不同的语境中有不同的用法。

jiǎo zì zài bù tóng de yǔ jìng zhōng yǒu bù tóng de yòng fǎ .

The character "矫" has different usages in different contexts.

CriApr 2026

正脊柱侧弯越直越好?很多家长第一步就错了...

jiǎo zhèng jǐ zhù cè wān yuè zhí yuè hǎo ? hěn duō jiā cháng dì yī bù jiù cuò le . . .

99 健康网Feb 2026

...根手指都疼是怎么回事?严重时是否需要手术

. . . gēn shǒu zhǐ dōu téng shì zěn má huí shì ? yán chóng shí shì fǒu xū yāo shǒu shù jiǎo zhèng

... What's going on with a finger that hurts? Whether surgical correction is required in severe cases

99 健康网Feb 2026

...30岁了还因假期结束而哭” 专家:这不是情,而是身体在求救!

. . . 3 0 suì le hái yīn jiǎ qī jié shù ér kū zhuān jiā : zhè bù shì jiǎo qíng , ér shì shēn tǐ zài qiú jiù !

... At the age of 30, I still cry because the holiday is over" Expert: This is not hypocrisy, but the body is calling for help!

Tatoeba

身手健的棕狐狸跃过懒洋洋的狗。

Shēnshǒu jiǎojiàn de zōng húli yuè guo lǎnyāngyāng de gǒu.

The quick brown fox jumps over a lazy dog.

Tatoeba

我是一名牙齿正医师。

Wǒ shì yī míng yáchǐ jiǎozhèng yīshī.

I'm an orthodontist.

Character Family

Radical Family — Characters sharing the arrow radical

Homophones — Characters pronounced jiǎo

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 矫 (jiǎo) mean in Chinese?
矫 (jiǎo) primarily means "to correct." It is classified as HSK Level 7-9, making it an expert-level character. It ranks #2700 in character frequency.
What's the difference between 矫 and 错?
矫 (jiǎo) and 错 (cuò) are often confused. antonym. The key distinguishing feature: 矫 (correct) vs 错 (wrong).
How many strokes does 矫 have?
矫 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 矫?
The radical associated with 矫 is 矢 (arrow). This radical appears in many characters related to arrow.
What are the components of 矫?
矫 is composed of: 矢 (semantic), 乔 (phonetic). Its IDS decomposition is ⿰矢乔 with a left-right layout. Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.
What are common words containing 矫?
Common words with 矫 include: 矫正 (jiǎo zhèng, "to correct"); 矫形 (jiǎo xíng, "orthopedic (e.g. surgery)"); 矫健 (jiǎo jiàn, "strong and healthy"); 矫揉造作 (jiǎo róu zào zuò, "pretension"); 矫枉过正 (jiǎo wǎng guò zhèng, "to overcorrect (idiom)"). There are over 23 compound words containing this character.
What characters sound the same as 矫 (jiǎo)?
Several characters share the pronunciation jiǎo: 交 (to hand over), 郊 (suburbs), 胶 (to glue), 蕉 (banana), and 3 more. Context and tones help distinguish between them in speech and writing.
Is 矫 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Yes, 矫 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.