敲 (qiāo): to hit, to strike, to tap
敲 (qiāo) is a Chinese character meaning “to hit.” Classified as HSK Level 4 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of 高 (phonetic) and 攴 (semantic). It ranks #1716 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).
Etymologically derived, 敲 strike. Its radical form 攵 (rap) appears in many related characters such as 放 (fàng, to put, to release), 教 (jiào, (bound form) to teach), 收 (shōu, to receive).
Definitions
- to hit
- to strike
- to tap
Etymology & Origin
Stroke Order
Practice writing 敲 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 |
|---|---|---|
| 敲门verb | qiāo mén | to knock on a door |
| 敲诈verb | qiāo zhà | to rip off |
| 敲打verb | qiāo dǎ | to beat sb |
| 敲响 | qiāo xiǎng | to sound a bell |
| 敲击verb | qiāo jī | to pound |
| 敲诈勒索phrase | qiāo zhà lè suǒ | extortion and blackmail (idiom) |
| 敲定verb | qiāo dìng | to come to a decision |
| 推敲verb | tuī qiāo | to think over |
| 敲门砖noun | qiāo mén zhuān | lit. a brick as a door knocker (idiom) |
| 敲竹杠verb | qiāo zhú gàng | extortion by taking advantage of sb's weakness |
| 敲边鼓 | qiāo biān gǔ | to back sb up |
| 零敲碎打 | líng qiāo suì dǎ | to do things in bits and pieces (idiom) |
| 平生不做亏心事，半夜敲门心不惊 | píng shēng bù zuò kuī xīn shì , bàn yè qiāo mén xīn bù jīng | He who never wrongs others does not fear the knock in the night. |
| 不做亏心事，不怕鬼敲门 | bù zuò kuī xīn shì , bù pà guǐ qiāo mén | he who never wrongs others does not fear the knock in the night |
| 敲大背 | qiāo dà bèi | to have sex with a prostitute |
敲 appears in 34 compound words: 79 as the first character, 9 as the last, and 12 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 敲 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.
Idioms & Chengyu (8)
to express something indirectly by making oblique statements; to beat around the bush
Example Sentences
敲字的写法很特别，让我印象深刻。
qiāo zì de xiě fǎ hěn tè bié , ràng wǒ yìn xiàng shēn kè .
The way the characters are written is quite unique and left a deep impression on me.
968所学校列第7级残旧!校舍安全再敲警钟
9 6 8 suǒ xué jiào liè dì 7 jí cán jiù ! jiào shě ān quán zài qiāo jǐng zhōng
968 schools are listed as Grade 7 dilapidated! School building safety sounded the alarm again
经典赛混血好手费尔柴德敲安 守护者3比11输给道奇
jīng diǎn sài hùn xiě hǎo shǒu fèi ěr chái dé qiāo ān shǒu hù zhě 3 bǐ 1 1 shū gěi dào qí
Classic mixed-race player Fairchild knocked on the Guardians, losing 3-11 to the Dodgers
王菲连两年春晚开唱!粉丝敲碗办演唱会 宽姐松口了
wáng 菲 lián liǎng nián chūn wǎn kāi chàng ! fěn sī qiāo wǎn bàn yǎn chàng huì kuān jiě sōng kǒu le
Faye Wong has been singing at the Spring Festival Gala for two consecutive years! Fans knocked on the bowl to hold a concert, and Sister Kuan let go
...》郑宗哲热身赛首扛先发游击 全场2支0、敲163公里强劲击球
. . . zhèng zōng zhé rè shēn sài shǒu gāng xiān fā yóu jī quán chǎng 2 zhī 0 , qiāo 1 6 3 gōng lǐ qiáng jìn jī qiú
Zheng Zongzhe started the starting shortstop in the warm-up game, 2 0-for-2 in the game, knocked 163 kilometers and hit strongly
美最高法院这一槌 能敲醒赖政府?
měi zuì gāo fǎ yuàn zhè yī 槌 néng qiāo xǐng lài zhèng fǔ ?
Can the gavel of the U.S. Supreme Court wake up the Lai government?
雨滴敲打窗户玻璃。
Yǔdī qiāodǎ chuānghu bōli.
The rain beats against the window pane.
汤姆试图敲碎一颗核桃而不损坏果仁。
Tāngmǔ shìtú qiāo suì yī kē hétao ér bù sǔnhuài guǒrén.
Tom tried to crack a walnut without damaging its kernel.
刚刚敲过了八点钟，不是吗？
Gānggang qiāo guo le bā diǎnzhōng, bù shì ma?
It has just struck eight, hasn't it?
汤姆被敲竹杠了。
Tāngmǔ bèi qiāo zhúgàng le.
Tom got ripped off.
Character Family
Frequently Asked Questions
What does 敲 (qiāo) mean in Chinese?
What's the difference between 敲 and 搞?
How many strokes does 敲 have?
What is the radical of 敲?
What are the components of 敲?
What are common words containing 敲?
What characters sound the same as 敲 (qiāo)?
Is 敲 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Practice writing 敲 with real-time feedback
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