姐 (jiě): elder sister

姐 (jiě) is a Chinese character meaning “elder sister.” Classified as HSK Level 1 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of 女 (semantic) and 且 (phonetic). It ranks #830 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Etymologically derived, 姐 woman. Its radical form 女 (woman) appears in many related characters such as 女 (nǚ, woman), 奶 (nǎi, grandmother, milk), 她 (tā, she).

Spoken pronunciation

Definitions

  1. elder sister

Etymology & Origin

姐

pictophoneticwoman

Decomposition: ⿰女且 (layout: left-right)

Stroke Order

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8

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

Words & Compounds

HSK Vocabulary with 姐

WordPinyinMeaningHSK
小姐nounxiǎo jieyoung lady5
姐姐nounjiě jieolder sister1
姐妹nounjiě mèisisters3

Common Compounds

WordPinyinMeaning
空姐nounkōng jiěstewardess
大姐noundà jiěbig sister
表姐nounbiǎo jiěolder female cousin through a female relative
姐夫nounjiě fu(coll.) older sister's husband
堂姐nountáng jiěolder female patrilineal cousin
空中小姐nounkōng zhōng xiǎo jiěstewardess
表姐妹nounbiǎo jiě mèifemale cousin through a female relative
花大姐nounhuā dà jiěcommon word for ladybug, more formally 瓢蟲|瓢虫
学姐nounxué jiěsenior or older female schoolmate
师姐nounshī jiěsenior female fellow student or apprentice
继姐nounjì jiěolder stepsister
大姐大noundà jiě dàfemale gang leader
大小姐noundà xiǎo jieeldest daughter of an affluent family
大姐头noundà jiě tóu(Tw) female gang leader
姐们儿jiě men rerhua form of 姐們|姐们
50
Total compounds
18
As first character
58
As last character
24
As middle character

姐 appears in 50 compound words: 18 as the first character, 58 as the last, and 24 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 姐 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.

幔màn
0.64010 co-occurrences
妹mèi
0.63031,885 co-occurrences
姜jiāng
0.51610 co-occurrences
小xiǎo
0.49545,456 co-occurrences
兄xiōng
0.4756,434 co-occurrences
孪luán
0.471208 co-occurrences
弟dì
0.4509,178 co-occurrences
浪làng
0.44722 co-occurrences
胎tāi
0.4291,816 co-occurrences
俩liǎ
0.428286 co-occurrences

Idioms & Chengyu (3)

空中小姐kōngzhōng xiǎojiěHSK 3+

female flight attendant; air hostess

noun
兄弟姐妹xiōngdì jiěmèiHSK 4+

elder brother, younger brother, elder sister and younger sister; brothers and sisters; siblings

noun
援交小姐yuán jiāo xiǎo jieHSK 6+

girl who engages in enjo-kōsai; see also 援助交際|援助交际

phrase

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

我姐姐在一家医院当护士,工作很辛苦。

Wǒ jiějie zài yì jiā yīyuàn dāng hùshi, gōngzuò hěn xīnkǔ.

My older sister works as a nurse at a hospital; her work is very hard.

Am730Feb 2026

夜王|鄭秀文被要求胸部墊Pad演V姐 Sammi..每邊double都冇效果

yè wáng 鄭 xiù wén bèi yāo qiú xiōng bù 墊 yǎn jiě . . měi 邊 dōu 冇 xiào guǒ

Night King | Sammi Cheng was asked to wear breast pads for her role as Sister V. Sammi... even with double padding on each side, it didn't work.

LtnFeb 2026

王菲連兩年春晚開唱!粉絲敲碗辦演唱會 寬姐鬆口了

wáng 菲 連 兩 nián chūn wǎn 開 chàng ! fěn 絲 qiāo wǎn 辦 yǎn chàng 會 寬 jiě 鬆 kǒu le

Faye Wong Performs at Spring Festival Gala for Two Consecutive Years! Fans Clamoring for Concert as Sister Kuan Finally Gives the Green Light

東方日報Feb 2026

兩名韓籍空姐每月1.35萬 合租御海灣II一房戶

兩 míng 韓 jí kōng jiě měi yuè . 萬 gě zū yù hǎi 灣 yī fáng 戶

Two Korean flight attendants share a one-bedroom unit at Ocean Bay II for HK$13,500 per month.

Hk01.comFeb 2026

家姐好心幫手「攔截成績表」反害慘弟弟 網民一...

jiā jiě hǎo xīn 幫 shǒu 攔 jié chéng 績 biǎo fǎn hài 慘 dì dì 網 mín yī . . .

Big Sister's Kind Gesture to "Intercept the Report Card" Backfires on Little Brother, Netizens...

BastillepostFeb 2026

港姐冠軍黃嘉雯豪宅曝光 去年榮升馬主贏254...

gǎng jiě guàn 軍 黃 jiā 雯 háo zhái pù guāng qù nián 榮 shēng 馬 zhǔ 贏 . . .

Hong Kong Stewardess Champion Wong Ka Man's Mansion Revealed Last Year's Racehorse Owner Won 254...

Tatoeba

先生小姐,你们买点什么首饰?

Xiānsheng xiǎojie, nǐmen mǎi diǎn shénme shǒushì?

Sir and Miss, what type of jewellery are you looking to buy?

Tatoeba

小姐,今天晚上有没有空房间?

Xiǎojie, jīntiān wǎnshang yǒuméiyǒu kōngfángjiān?

Miss, are there any available rooms for tonight?

Tatoeba

我能和布朗小姐说话吗?

Wǒ néng hé Bùlǎng xiǎojie shuōhuà ma?

May I talk to Ms. Brown?

Tatoeba

你的姐姐游泳得不好,是不是?

Nǐ de jiějie yóuyǒng de bù hǎo, shìbùshì?

Your sister can't swim well, can she?

Character Family

Semantic Family — Characters sharing the 女 (woman) component

Homophones — Characters pronounced jiě

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 姐 (jiě) mean in Chinese?
姐 (jiě) primarily means "elder sister." It is classified as HSK Level 1, making it a beginner-level character. It ranks #830 in character frequency.
What's the difference between 姐 and 组?
姐 (jiě) and 组 (zǔ) are often confused. confusable. The key distinguishing feature: 女 vs 纟 (same 且 component).
How many strokes does 姐 have?
姐 is written with 8 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 姐?
The radical associated with 姐 is 女 (woman). This radical appears in many characters related to woman.
What are the components of 姐?
姐 is composed of: 女 (semantic), 且 (phonetic). Its IDS decomposition is ⿰女且 with a left-right layout. Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.
What are common words containing 姐?
Common words with 姐 include: 小姐 (xiǎo jie, "young lady"); 姐姐 (jiě jie, "older sister"); 姐妹 (jiě mèi, "sisters"); 空姐 (kōng jiě, "stewardess"); 大姐 (dà jiě, "big sister"). There are over 50 compound words containing this character.
What characters sound the same as 姐 (jiě)?
Several characters share the pronunciation jiě: 接 (to receive, to connect), 结 (knot, result), 界 (world, boundary). Context and tones help distinguish between them in speech and writing.
Is 姐 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Yes, 姐 is written the same way in both simplified and traditional Chinese.

Practice writing 姐 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.