侨 (qiáo): emigrant, to reside abroad

侨 (qiáo) is a Chinese character meaning “emigrant.” Classified as HSK Level 7-9 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of 亻 (semantic) and 乔 (phonetic). It ranks #2273 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Etymologically derived, 侨 person. Its radical form 亻 (person) appears in many related characters such as 人 (rén, person), 什 (shén, what), 今 (jīn, now).

Native pronunciation

HSK 7-9 Radical: 亻 person8 strokesFrequency #2273亻 semantic 乔 phonetic

Definitions

emigrant
to reside abroad

Etymology & Origin

侨

pictophoneticperson

Decomposition: ⿰亻乔 (layout: left-right)

Components:亻semantic 乔phonetic

Stroke Order

Practice writing 侨 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
侨民	qiáo mín	expatriates
侨居	qiáo jū	to live far away from one's native place
外侨	wài qiáo	foreigner
华侨	huá qiáo	overseas Chinese
侨胞	qiáo bāo	countryman living abroad
侨务委员会	qiáo wù wěi yuán huì	Overseas Chinese Affairs Council, Taiwan
华侨大学	huá qiáo dà xué	Huaqiao University
华侨报	huá qiáo bào	Va Kio Daily
侨生	qiáo shēng	student of overseas Chinese descent who returns to mainland China or Taiwan to pursue their studies (abbr. for 華僑學生\|华...
侨务	qiáo wù	matters relating to the Chinese diaspora (as a concern of the Chinese government)
越侨	yuè qiáo	Vietnamese resident in other countries (including in China)
归侨	guī qiáo	Chinese person who returns to China after living as an expatriate
侨乡	qiáo xiāng	hometown of overseas Chinese
撤侨	chè qiáo	to evacuate (e.g. foreign civilians from a war zone)
侨眷	qiáo juàn	family members of nationals residing abroad

Total compounds

As first character

As last character

As middle character

侨 appears in 15 compound words: 53 as the first character, 33 as the last, and 13 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 侨 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.

华huá

0.62632,124 co-occurrences

归guī

0.4432,856 co-occurrences

务wù

0.4034,380 co-occurrences

民mín

0.39711,340 co-occurrences

胞bāo

0.3951,482 co-occurrences

澳ào

0.3771,986 co-occurrences

办bàn

0.3772,262 co-occurrences

汇huì

0.372768 co-occurrences

郑zhèng

0.369750 co-occurrences

农nóng

0.3671,344 co-occurrences

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

她侨长得很美，心地也很善良。

tā qiáo cháng dé hěn měi , xīn dì yě hěn shàn liáng .

She is exceptionally beautiful and has a kind heart.

EttodayFeb 2026

...特辅班114学年度上路接收台师大145侨生扩大全国招收量能

. . . tè fǔ bān 1 1 4 xué nián dù shàng lù jiē shōu tái shī dà 1 4 5 qiáo shēng kuò dà quán guó zhāo shōu liàng néng

... The special auxiliary class will be on the road in the 114th academic year to accept 145 overseas Chinese students from National Taiwan Normal University to expand the national enrollment capacity

中国新闻网_梳理天下新闻Feb 2026

中国是否考虑从巴基斯坦、阿富汗撤侨?外交部回应

zhōng guó shì fǒu kǎo lǜ cóng bā jī sī tǎn , ā fù hàn chè qiáo ? wài jiāo bù huí yīng

Is China considering evacuating overseas Chinese from Pakistan and Afghanistan? The Ministry of Foreign Affairs responded

大紀元 | 大紀元新聞網Feb 2026

金山湾区侨界新春团拜共祝台湾国运昌隆

jīn shān wān qū qiáo jiè xīn chūn tuán bài gòng zhù tái wān guó yùn chāng lóng

Jinshan Bay Area Overseas Chinese New Year Group Worship Wishing Taiwan a prosperous national fortune

中国新闻网_梳理天下新闻Feb 2026

四川省侨联召开干部大会传达学习相关会议精神并部署...

sì chuān shěng qiáo lián zhào kāi gān bù dà huì chuán dá xué xí xiāng guān huì yì jīng shén bìng bù shǔ . . .

The Sichuan Federation of Returned Overseas Chinese held a cadre meeting to convey the spirit of the relevant meeting and deploy...

Investing 香港Feb 2026

侨洋国际控股(08070)发盈喜预期20...

qiáo yáng guó jì kòng gǔ ( 0 8 0 7 0 ) fā yíng xǐ yù qī 2 0 . . .

Qiaoyang International Holdings (08070) is expected to be 20...

Tatoeba

3个马来西亚侨民与一个菲律宾国民在棉兰老岛达沃市爆炸里被炸死了。

3 gè Mǎláixīyà qiáomín yǔ yī gè Fēilǜbīn guómín zài Miánlánlǎo Dǎo dá wò shì bàozhà lǐ bèi zhàsǐ le.

3 Malay nationals and a Filipino were killed in the Davao bombing on Mindanao.

Character Family

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 侨 (qiáo) mean in Chinese?

侨 (qiáo) primarily means "emigrant." It is classified as HSK Level 7-9, making it an expert-level character. It ranks #2273 in character frequency.

What's the difference between 侨 and 娇?

侨 (qiáo) and 娇 (jiāo) are often confused. confusable. The key distinguishing feature: 亻 vs 女 (same 乔 component).

How many strokes does 侨 have?

侨 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 侨?

The radical associated with 侨 is 亻 (person). This radical appears in many characters related to person.

What are the components of 侨?

侨 is composed of: 亻 (semantic), 乔 (phonetic). Its IDS decomposition is ⿰亻乔 with a left-right layout. Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.

What are common words containing 侨?

Common words with 侨 include: 侨民 (qiáo mín, "expatriates"); 侨居 (qiáo jū, "to live far away from one's native place"); 外侨 (wài qiáo, "foreigner"); 华侨 (huá qiáo, "overseas Chinese"); 侨胞 (qiáo bāo, "countryman living abroad"). There are over 15 compound words containing this character.

What characters sound the same as 侨 (qiáo)?

Several characters share the pronunciation qiáo: 桥 (bridge), 壳 ((coll.) shell (of an egg, nut, crab etc)), 悄 (quiet), 敲 (to hit), and 4 more. Context and tones help distinguish between them in speech and writing.

Is 侨 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?

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

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