(jiào): compare, relatively

(jiào) is a Chinese character meaning “compare, relatively.” Classified as HSK Level 3 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of (semantic) and (phonetic). It ranks #491 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Etymologically derived, cart. Its radical form (cart) appears in many related characters such as (chē, vehicle), (qīng, light), (liàng, measure word for vehicles).

Native pronunciation

Definitions

  1. compare, relatively

Etymology & Origin

pictophoneticcart

Decomposition: ⿰车交 (layout: left-right)

Stroke Order

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10

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
verb/preposition/adverbbǐ jiàoto compare3
adverbjiào wéicomparatively6

Common Compounds

WordPinyinMeaning
jiào liàngto pit oneself against sb
jì jiàoto bother about
jiào jìnto match one's strength with
jiào zhēnserious
jīn jīn jì jiàoto haggle over every ounce
bǐ jiào wén xuécomparative literature
jiào zhēn rerhua variant of 較真|较真[jiao4 zhen1]
zī zhū bì jiàoto haggle over every cent (idiom)
yī jiào gāo xiàto compete against
xiāng duì bǐ jiàorelatively
bǐ jiào ér yáncomparatively speaking
jiào dàcomparatively large
jiào ránclearly
jiào hǎobetter
wú bǐ jiào jíabsolute (not liable to comparative degree)
32
Total compounds
50
As first character
19
As last character
31
As middle character

appears in 32 compound words: 50 as the first character, 19 as the last, and 31 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.

pín
0.69857 co-occurrences
0.559148,848 co-occurrences
使shǐ
0.54159 co-occurrences
0.50742,793 co-occurrences
huó
0.50561 co-occurrences
shì
0.45311,634 co-occurrences
chā
0.44918,180 co-occurrences
0.443654 co-occurrences
qiǎn
0.4383,864 co-occurrences
qīng
0.4207,536 co-occurrences

Idioms & Chengyu (6)

bǐjiào wénxuéHSK 3+

comparative literature

noun
jīnjīnjìjiàoHSK 4+

to fuss over minor matters; to split hairs

phrase
jīnjīn jiàoliàngHSK 4+

to dispute over minor matters

phrase
yījiàogāoxiàHSK 3+

to compete against one another and determine who is superior

phrase
zhāngmíngjiàozhùHSK 7+

very obvious; very evident

phrase
zīzhūbìjiàoHSK 3+

to split hairs; to fuss over minor amounts or things

phrase

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

这个方案比好,我们可以采纳。

Zhè gè fāng'àn bǐjiào hǎo, wǒmen kěyǐ cǎinà.

This plan is relatively good; we can adopt it.

NewsFeb 2026

...要和银行买保险?MRTA和MLTA种类比与省钱攻略

. . . yāo hé yín háng mǎi bǎo xiǎn ? hé zhǒng lèi bǐ jiào yǔ shěng qián gōng lüè

... Do you want to buy insurance with the bank? MRTA and MLTA types comparison and money-saving strategies

NewsFeb 2026

...技:正积极处置安世控制权事件 中国区业务稳健

. . . jì zhèng jī jí chǔ zhì ān shì kòng zhì quán shì jiàn zhōng guó qū yè wù jiào wěn jiàn

... Technology: It is actively dealing with Nexperia's control incident The business in China is relatively stable

NewsFeb 2026

财政预算案|新民党陈家佩形容预算案为“低糖”

cái zhèng yù suàn àn xīn mín dǎng chén jiā pèi xíng róng yù suàn àn jiào wéi dī táng

Budget | New People's Party Chen Jiapei described the budget as "low-sugar"

NewsFeb 2026

...8.HK)上季基本税前利润逊 但资本回报

. . . . shàng jì jī běn shuì qián lì rùn xùn dàn zī běn huí bào jiào jiā

... 8.HK) The basic pre-tax profit in the previous quarter was lower but the return on capital was better

NewsFeb 2026

台积电ADR相对抗跌 台北交易溢价22% 日月光跌逾2%

tái jī diàn xiāng duì kàng diē jiào tái běi jiāo yì yì jià rì yuè guāng diē yú

TSMC ADR is relatively resistant to decline, with a 22% premium from Taipei trading, and ASE fell more than 2%

Tatoeba

你比喜欢溜冰还是滑雪?

Nǐ bǐjiào xǐhuan liūbīng háishi huáxuě?

Which do you like better, skating or skiing?

Tatoeba

谁比高,肯还是太郎?

Shéi bǐjiào gāo, kěn háishi tài láng?

Who is taller, Ken or Taro?

Tatoeba

哪个比重,铅还是黄金?

Nǎge bǐjiào zhòng, qiān háishi huángjīn?

Which is heavier, lead or gold?

Tatoeba

你有任何比小的尺寸吗?

Nǐ yǒu rènhé bǐjiào xiǎode chǐcun ma?

Do you have any smaller sizes?

Character Family

Homophones — Characters pronounced jiào

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 较 (jiào) mean in Chinese?
较 (jiào) primarily means "compare, relatively." It is classified as HSK Level 3, making it a beginner-level character. It ranks #491 in character frequency.
What's the difference between 较 and 效?
较 (jiào) and 效 (xiào) are often confused. confusable. The key distinguishing feature: 车 vs 攵 (same 交 component).
How many strokes does 较 have?
较 is written with 10 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 较?
The radical associated with 较 is 车 (cart). This radical appears in many characters related to cart.
What are the components of 较?
较 is composed of: 车 (semantic), 交 (phonetic). Its IDS decomposition is ⿰车交 with a left-right layout. Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.
What are common words containing 较?
Common words with 较 include: 比较 (bǐ jiào, "to compare"); 较量 (jiào liàng, "to pit oneself against sb"); 计较 (jì jiào, "to bother about"); 较劲 (jiào jìn, "to match one's strength with"); 较真 (jiào zhēn, "serious"). There are over 32 compound words containing this character.
What characters sound the same as 较 (jiào)?
Several characters share the pronunciation jiào: 郊 (suburbs), 饺 (dumpling), 校 (to check), 交 (to hand over), and 1 more. Context and tones help distinguish between them in speech and writing.
Is 较 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
No. The simplified form is 较 and the traditional form is 較.

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.