绞 (jiǎo): to twist (strands into a thread), to entangle, to wring

绞 (jiǎo) is a Chinese character meaning “to twist (strands into a thread).” Classified as HSK Level 7-9 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of 纟 (semantic) and 交 (phonetic). It ranks #2542 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Etymologically derived, 绞 thread. Its radical form 纟 (silk) appears in many related characters such as 系 (xì, to connect), 累 (lěi, to accumulate), 绍 (shào, to continue).

Native pronunciation
HSK 7-9Radical: 纟 silk9 strokesFrequency #2542纟 semantic交 phonetic

Definitions

  1. to twist (strands into a thread)
  2. to entangle
  3. to wring

Etymology & Origin

绞

pictophoneticthread

Decomposition: ⿰纟交 (layout: left-right)

Components:纟semantic交phonetic

Stroke Order

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9

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

Words & Compounds

Common Compounds

WordPinyinMeaning
绞死jiǎo sǐto hang (i.e. execute by hanging)
绞刑jiǎo xíngto execute by hanging
绞尽脑汁jiǎo jìn nǎo zhīto rack one's brains
绞盘jiǎo páncapstan
绞刑架jiǎo xíng jiàgibbet
心绞痛xīn jiǎo tòngangina
绞架jiǎo jiàgallows
绞杀jiǎo shāto kill by strangling, hanging or garrotting
绞痛jiǎo tòngsharp pain
绞索jiǎo suǒa noose for hanging criminals
绞肉机jiǎo ròu jīmeat grinder
双绞线shuāng jiǎo xiàntwisted pair (cabling)
绞车jiǎo chēwinch
心如刀绞xīn rú dāo jiǎoto feel a pain like a knife being twisted in one's heart (idiom)
腹部绞痛fù bù jiǎo tòngabdominal cramping
23
Total compounds
74
As first character
9
As last character
17
As middle character

绞 appears in 23 compound words: 74 as the first character, 9 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 绞 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.

裸luǒ
0.5651,140 co-occurrences
刑xíng
0.5584,038 co-occurrences
汁zhī
0.464294 co-occurrences
痛tòng
0.461774 co-occurrences
盘pán
0.455600 co-occurrences
绳shéng
0.434150 co-occurrences
死sǐ
0.4302,322 co-occurrences
处chǔ
0.4161,542 co-occurrences
伏fú
0.413414 co-occurrences
斩zhǎn
0.410138 co-occurrences

Idioms & Chengyu (2)

绞尽脑汁jiǎojìnnǎozhīHSK 7+

to rack one's brain

phrase
心如刀绞xīn rú dāo jiǎoHSK 7+

to feel a pain like a knife being twisted in one's heart (idiom)

phrase

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

绞字的写法很特别，让我印象深刻。

jiǎo zì de xiě fǎ hěn tè bié , ràng wǒ yìn xiàng shēn kè .

The way the character "绞" is written is quite unique and left a deep impression on me.

Tatoeba

他因谋杀罪被绞死。

Tā yīn móushāzuì bèi jiǎosǐ.

He was hanged for murder.

Character Family

纟 Radical Family — Characters sharing the silk radical

绊bàn绑bǎng绷bēng编biān辫biàn缤bīn缠chán绸chóu纯chún绰chāo

Related Characters

系xì累lěi绍shào给gěi红hóng级jí纸zhǐ练liàn组zǔ经jīng

Homophones — Characters pronounced jiǎo

郊jiāo狡jiǎo饺jiǎo较jiào校jiào交jiāo胶jiāo

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 绞 (jiǎo) mean in Chinese?
绞 (jiǎo) primarily means "to twist (strands into a thread)." It is classified as HSK Level 7-9, making it an expert-level character. It ranks #2542 in character frequency.
What's the difference between 绞 and 效?
绞 (jiǎo) and 效 (xiào) are often confused. confusable. The key distinguishing feature: 纟 vs 攵 (same 交 component).
How many strokes does 绞 have?
绞 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 绞?
The radical associated with 绞 is 纟 (silk). This radical appears in many characters related to silk.
What are the components of 绞?
绞 is composed of: 纟 (semantic), 交 (phonetic). Its IDS decomposition is ⿰纟交 with a left-right layout. Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.
What are common words containing 绞?
Common words with 绞 include: 绞死 (jiǎo sǐ, "to hang (i.e. execute by hanging)"); 绞刑 (jiǎo xíng, "to execute by hanging"); 绞尽脑汁 (jiǎo jìn nǎo zhī, "to rack one's brains"); 绞盘 (jiǎo pán, "capstan"); 绞刑架 (jiǎo xíng jià, "gibbet"). There are over 23 compound words containing this character.
What characters sound the same as 绞 (jiǎo)?
Several characters share the pronunciation jiǎo: 郊 (suburbs), 狡 (crafty), 饺 (dumpling), 较 (compare, relatively), and 3 more. Context and tones help distinguish between them in speech and writing.
Is 绞 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Yes, 绞 is written the same way in both simplified and traditional Chinese.

Practice writing 绞 with real-time feedback

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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.