诫 (jiè): commandment, to prohibit

诫 (jiè) is a Chinese character meaning “commandment.” Classified as HSK Level 7-9 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of 讠 (structural) and 戒 (structural). It ranks #2613 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Etymologically derived, 诫 words 讠 of warning 戒; 戒 also provides the pronunciation. Its radical form 讠 (speech) appears in many related characters such as 认 (rèn, to recognize, to admit), 记 (jì, to remember, to record), 识 (shí, to know, knowledge).

Native pronunciation

HSK 7-9 Radical: 讠 speech9 strokesFrequency #2613讠 structural 戒 structural

Definitions

commandment
to prohibit

Etymology & Origin

诫

ideographicWords 讠 of warning 戒; 戒 also provides the pronunciation

Decomposition: ⿰讠戒 (layout: left-right)

Components:讠structural 戒structural

Stroke Order

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

Words & Compounds

Common Compounds

Word	Pinyin	Meaning
告诫	gào jiè	to warn
训诫	xùn jiè	to reprimand
劝诫	quàn jiè	to exhort
小惩大诫	xiǎo chéng dà jiè	lit. to punish a little to prevent a lot (idiom)
十诫	shí jiè	ten commandments
诫命	jiè mìng	commandment
规诫	guī jiè	to warn (against some course)
警诫	jǐng jiè	variant of 警戒[jing3 jie4]
谆谆告诫	zhūn zhūn gào jiè	to repeatedly advise sb earnestly (idiom)

Total compounds

As first character

As last character

As middle character

诫 appears in 9 compound words: 11 as the first character, 89 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 诫 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.

劝quàn

0.558936 co-occurrences

勉miǎn

0.510534 co-occurrences

告gào

0.5014,338 co-occurrences

训xùn

0.4931,230 co-occurrences

命mìng

0.4132,094 co-occurrences

谈tán

0.402324 co-occurrences

条tiáo

0.383786 co-occurrences

十shí

0.3742,682 co-occurrences

勿wù

0.37478 co-occurrences

厉lì

0.36654 co-occurrences

Idioms & Chengyu (2)

小惩大诫xiǎo chéng dà jièHSK 7+

lit. to punish a little to prevent a lot (idiom); to criticize former mistakes firmly to prevent large scale repetition

phrase

谆谆告诫zhūnzhūngàojièHSK 7+

to tirelessly counsel; to admonish repeatedly

phrase

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

请诫细阅读合同条款，再签字确认。

qǐng jiè xì yuè dòu gě tóng tiáo kuǎn , zài qiān zì què rèn .

Please carefully review the contract terms before signing to confirm.

NewtalkApr 2026

...3球员深夜喧哗惹议球团罚款惩处并严正告诫

. . . 3 qiú yuán shēn yè xuān huā rě yì qiú tuán fá kuǎn chéng chǔ bìng yán zhèng gào jiè

Tatoeba

他告诫他们不要吵闹。

Tā gàojiè tāmen bù yào chǎonào.

He admonished them for being noisy.

Character Family

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 诫 (jiè) mean in Chinese?

诫 (jiè) primarily means "commandment." It is classified as HSK Level 7-9, making it an expert-level character. It ranks #2613 in character frequency.

How many strokes does 诫 have?

诫 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 诫?

The radical associated with 诫 is 讠 (speech). This radical appears in many characters related to speech.

What are the components of 诫?

诫 is composed of: 讠 (structural), 戒 (structural). Its IDS decomposition is ⿰讠戒 with a left-right layout. Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.

What are common words containing 诫?

Common words with 诫 include: 告诫 (gào jiè, "to warn"); 训诫 (xùn jiè, "to reprimand"); 劝诫 (quàn jiè, "to exhort"); 小惩大诫 (xiǎo chéng dà jiè, "lit. to punish a little to prevent a lot (idiom)"); 十诫 (shí jiè, "ten commandments"). There are over 9 compound words containing this character.

What characters sound the same as 诫 (jiè)?

Several characters share the pronunciation jiè: 阶 (rank or step), 接 (to receive, to connect), 街 (street), 节 (festival, section), and 5 more. Context and tones help distinguish between them in speech and writing.

Is 诫 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?

Yes, 诫 is written the same way in both simplified and traditional Chinese.

Practice writing 诫 with real-time feedback

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