(jiāo): banana, see 蕉萃

(jiāo) is a Chinese character meaning “banana.” Classified as HSK Level 3 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of (semantic) and (phonetic). It ranks #2800 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Etymologically derived, plant. Its radical form (grass) appears in many related characters such as (huā, flower), (chá, tea), (cài, vegetable, dish).

Native pronunciation

Definitions

  1. banana
  2. see 蕉萃

Etymology & Origin

pictophoneticplant

Decomposition: ⿱艹焦 (layout: top-bottom)

Stroke Order

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15

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
nounxiāng jiāobanana3

Common Compounds

WordPinyinMeaning
měi rén jiāocanna or Indian shot (genus Canna)
jiāo chéng qūJiaocheng, a district of Ningde City 寧德市|宁德市[Ning2 de2 Shi4], Fujian
xiāng jiāo rénbanana person (yellow outside, white inside)
jiāo chéngsee 蕉城區|蕉城区[Jiao1 cheng2 Qu1]
jiāo máabaca
jiāo lǐng xiànJiaoling, a county in Meizhou City 梅州市[Mei2 zhou1 Shi4], Guangdong
qiáo cuìvariant of 憔悴[qiao2 cui4]
bā jiāo shànpalm-leaf fan
jiāo lǐngsee 蕉嶺縣|蕉岭县[Jiao1 ling3 Xian4]
bā jiāoJapanese banana (Musa basjoo)
11
Total compounds
55
As first character
27
As last character
18
As middle character

appears in 11 compound words: 55 as the first character, 27 as the last, and 18 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.

0.6224,752 co-occurrences
xiāng
0.58022,878 co-occurrences
lài
0.4881,626 co-occurrences
lǐng
0.4671,248 co-occurrences
0.431114 co-occurrences
shān
0.424498 co-occurrences
0.415486 co-occurrences
luó
0.37296 co-occurrences
cǎi
0.36496 co-occurrences
0.3601,026 co-occurrences

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

老师教我们字的发音和笔顺。

lǎo shī jiào wǒ men jiāo zì de fā yīn hé bǐ shùn .

The teacher taught us the pronunciation and stroke order of the character "banana."

三立新聞網Apr 2026

、菠菜稳血压!“3类人”乱吃恐丧命

xiāng jiāo , 菠 cài wěn xiě yā ! 3 lèi rén luàn chī kǒng sāng mìng

UdnnewsindexApr 2026

...市想像屏东小小县长开票 从迷宫学历史到香全运用

. . . shì xiǎng xiàng bǐng dōng xiǎo xiǎo xiàn cháng kāi piào cóng mí gōng xué lì shǐ dào xiāng jiāo quán yùn yòng

UdnnewsindexMar 2026

美伊冲突拉高成本 印度香销中东陷两难

měi yī chōng tū lā gāo chéng běn yìn dù xiāng jiāo xiāo zhōng dōng xiàn liǎng nán

U.S.-Iran Tensions Drive Up Costs, Putting Indian Banana Exports to the Middle East in a Bind

StheadlineMar 2026

降血压也可吃香?营养师大推6种食物护心血管 吃1种食物...

jiàng xiě yā yě kě chī xiāng jiāo ? yíng yǎng shī dà tuī 6 zhǒng shí wù hù xīn xiě guǎn chī 1 zhǒng shí wù . . .

Can bananas help lower blood pressure? Nutritionists highly recommend 6 foods to protect your cardiovascular health. Eating just one of these foods...

99 健康网Mar 2026

成人大香煮小辣椒的功效是什么 这种独特搭配真的有...

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

What is the effect of boiling small chili peppers in large bananas for adults This unique combination really has...

Tatoeba

光阴飞逝如箭; 果蝇喜欢香

Guāngyīn fēishì rú jiàn; guǒyíng xǐhuan xiāngjiāo.

Time flies like an arrow; fruit flies like a banana.

Tatoeba

瓜地马拉曾经被称作香共和国。

Guādìmǎlā céngjīng bèi chēngzuò xiāngjiāo gònghéguó.

Guatemala was once called the Banana Republic.

Tatoeba

是最伟大的诗人。

Bājiāo shì zuì wěidà de shīrén.

Basho was the greatest poet.

Tatoeba

他买了一个香盒。

Tā mǎi le yī gè xiāngjiāo hé.

He bought a banana case.

Character Family

Homophones — Characters pronounced jiāo

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 蕉 (jiāo) mean in Chinese?
蕉 (jiāo) primarily means "banana." It is classified as HSK Level 3, making it a beginner-level character. It ranks #2800 in character frequency.
What's the difference between 蕉 and 瞧?
蕉 (jiāo) and 瞧 (qiáo) are often confused. confusable. The key distinguishing feature: 艹 vs 目 (same 焦 component).
How many strokes does 蕉 have?
蕉 is written with 15 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 蕉?
The radical associated with 蕉 is 艹 (grass). This radical appears in many characters related to grass.
What are the components of 蕉?
蕉 is composed of: 艹 (semantic), 焦 (phonetic). Its IDS decomposition is ⿱艹焦 with a top-bottom layout. Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.
What are common words containing 蕉?
Common words with 蕉 include: 香蕉 (xiāng jiāo, "banana"); 美人蕉 (měi rén jiāo, "canna or Indian shot (genus Canna)"); 蕉城区 (jiāo chéng qū, "Jiaocheng, a district of Ningde City 寧德市|宁德市[Ning2 de2 Shi4], Fujian"); 香蕉人 (xiāng jiāo rén, "banana person (yellow outside, white inside)"); 蕉城 (jiāo chéng, "see 蕉城區|蕉城区[Jiao1 cheng2 Qu1]"). There are over 11 compound words containing this character.
What characters sound the same as 蕉 (jiāo)?
Several characters share the pronunciation jiāo: 礁 (reef), 交 (to hand over), 郊 (suburbs), 骄 (proud), and 4 more. Context and tones help distinguish between them in speech and writing.
Is 蕉 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Yes, 蕉 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.