跤 (jiāo): a tumble, a fall

跤 (jiāo) is a Chinese character meaning “a tumble.” Classified as HSK Level 7-9 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of 足 (semantic) and 交 (phonetic). It ranks #2958 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Etymologically derived, 跤 foot. Its radical form 足 (foot) appears in many related characters such as 跑 (pǎo, to run), 跟 (gēn, follow, heel), 路 (lù, road).

Spoken pronunciation

Definitions

  1. a tumble
  2. a fall

Etymology & Origin

跤

pictophoneticfoot

Decomposition: ⿰足交 (layout: left-right)

Stroke Order

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

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

Words & Compounds

Common Compounds

WordPinyinMeaning
摔跤verbshuāi jiāoto trip and fall
跌跤verbdiē jiāoto fall down
绊跤bàn jiāoto trip
3
Total compounds
0
As first character
100
As last character
0
As middle character

跤 appears in 3 compound words: 0 as the first character, 100 as the last, and 0 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 跤 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.

摔shuāi
0.8037,862 co-occurrences
锦jǐn
0.440258 co-occurrences
手shǒu
0.4201,720 co-occurrences
运yùn
0.394806 co-occurrences
项xiàng
0.370354 co-occurrences
跌diē
0.35450 co-occurrences
式shì
0.352860 co-occurrences
奥ào
0.350260 co-occurrences
标biāo
0.342258 co-occurrences
动dòng
0.339540 co-occurrences

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

了解跤字的来源,有助于理解中国文化。

le xiè jiāo zì de lái yuán , yǒu zhù yú lǐ xiè zhōng guó wén huā .

Understanding the origin of the character "跤" helps to comprehend Chinese culture.

中国新闻网·体育Aug 2026

本届赛事汇集众多跤坛名将与青年新锐,不同国家的技战术风格在赛场碰撞。

běn jiè sài shì huì jí zhòng duō jiāo tán míng jiāng yǔ qīng nián xīn ruì , bù tóng guó jiā de jì zhàn shù fēng gé zài sài chǎng pèng zhuàng .

This year's tournament brings together many top wrestlers and up-and-coming young talents, with the technical and tactical styles of different countries clashing on the mat.

中国新闻网·体育Aug 2026

中国-中亚国家摔跤精英赛西安启幕 十国“跤士”共筑体育交流桥

zhōng guó zhōng yà guó jiā shuāi jiāo jīng yīng sài xī ān qǐ mù shí guó jiāo shì gòng zhù tǐ yù jiāo liú qiáo

China-Central Asia Elite Wrestling Tournament Kicks Off in Xi'an Wrestlers from Ten Countries Build a Bridge for Sports Exchange

少数派Jul 2026

但这个词在战后被大量用于柔道、体操、乒乓球、摔跤等各类锦标赛,已经有些泛滥。

dàn zhè gè cí zài zhàn hòu bèi dà liàng yòng yú róu dào , tǐ cāo , pīng pāng qiú , shuāi jiāo děng gè lèi jǐn biāo sài , yǐ jīng yǒu xiē fàn làn .

However, since the war, this term has been used extensively in various championships—such as judo, gymnastics, table tennis, and wrestling—to the point where it has become somewhat overused.

ZaobaoMar 2026

19岁摔跤国手被公开处决 伊朗前水球运动员表悲痛

1 9 suì shuāi jiāo guó shǒu bèi gōng kāi chǔ jué yī lǎng qián shuǐ qiú yùn dòng yuán biǎo bēi tòng

19-Year-Old National Wrestler Publicly Executed; Former Iranian Water Polo Player Expresses Grief

大紀元 | 大紀元新聞網Mar 2026

新哈梅内伊政权处决3抗议者 含19岁摔跤冠军

xīn hā méi nèi yī zhèng quán chǔ jué 3 kàng yì zhě hán 1 9 suì shuāi jiāo guàn jūn

The new Khamenei regime executes three protesters, including a 19-year-old wrestling champion

Tatoeba

我滑了一跤并从楼梯上摔下来。

Wǒ huá le yī jiāo bìng cóng lóutī shàng shuāi xiàlai.

I slipped and fell down the stairs.

Tatoeba

雨天路滑,小心摔跤。

Yǔtiān lù huá, xiǎoxīn shuāijiāo.

The roads are slippery on a rainy day. Be careful not to fall.

Character Family

Semantic Family — Characters sharing the 足 (foot) component

Homophones — Characters pronounced jiāo

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 跤 (jiāo) mean in Chinese?
跤 (jiāo) primarily means "a tumble." It is classified as HSK Level 7-9, making it an expert-level character. It ranks #2958 in character frequency.
What's the difference between 跤 and 起?
跤 (jiāo) and 起 (qǐ) are often confused. antonym. The key distinguishing feature: 跤 (fall) vs 起 (rise).
How many strokes does 跤 have?
跤 is written with 13 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 跤?
The radical associated with 跤 is 足 (foot). This radical appears in many characters related to foot.
What are the components of 跤?
跤 is composed of: 足 (semantic), 交 (phonetic). Its IDS decomposition is ⿰足交 with a left-right layout. Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.
What are common words containing 跤?
Common words with 跤 include: 摔跤 (shuāi jiāo, "to trip and fall"); 跌跤 (diē jiāo, "to fall down"); 绊跤 (bàn jiāo, "to trip"). There are over 3 compound words containing this character.
What characters sound the same as 跤 (jiāo)?
Several characters share the pronunciation jiāo: 较 (compare, relatively), 郊 (suburbs), 姣 (cunning), 饺 (dumpling), and 1 more. Context and tones help distinguish between them in speech and writing.
Is 跤 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Yes, 跤 is written the same way in both simplified and traditional Chinese.

Practice writing 跤 with real-time feedback

Trace stroke sequences, hear spoken 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.