(qiāo): to hit, to strike, to tap

(qiāo) is a Chinese character meaning “to hit.” Classified as HSK Level 4 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of (phonetic) and (semantic). It ranks #1716 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Etymologically derived, strike. Its radical form (rap) appears in many related characters such as (fàng, to put, to release), (jiào, (bound form) to teach), (shōu, to receive).

Native pronunciation

Definitions

  1. to hit
  2. to strike
  3. to tap

Etymology & Origin

pictophoneticstrike

Decomposition: ⿰高攴 (layout: left-right)

Stroke Order

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14

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

Words & Compounds

Common Compounds

WordPinyinMeaning
qiāo ménto knock on a door
qiāo zhàto rip off
qiāo dǎto beat sb
qiāo xiǎngto sound a bell
qiāo jīto pound
qiāo zhà lè suǒextortion and blackmail (idiom)
qiāo dìngto come to a decision
tuī qiāoto think over
qiāo mén zhuānlit. a brick as a door knocker (idiom)
qiāo zhú gàngextortion by taking advantage of sb's weakness
qiāo biān gǔto back sb up
líng qiāo suì dǎto do things in bits and pieces (idiom)
píng shēng bù zuò kuī xīn shì , bàn yè qiāo mén xīn bù jīngHe who never wrongs others does not fear the knock in the night.
bù zuò kuī xīn shì , bù pà guǐ qiāo ménhe who never wrongs others does not fear the knock in the night
qiāo dà bèito have sex with a prostitute
34
Total compounds
79
As first character
9
As last character
12
As middle character

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 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.

zhà
0.6073,102 co-occurrences
chū
0.46340,134 co-occurrences
chuí
0.436294 co-occurrences
0.4249,036 co-occurrences
0.4242,202 co-occurrences
0.4122,394 co-occurrences
gùn
0.394438 co-occurrences
zhōng
0.3871,468 co-occurrences
suì
0.384858 co-occurrences
zhī
0.3835,640 co-occurrences

Idioms & Chengyu (8)

líng dǎ suì qiāoHSK 5+

to do things in bits and pieces (idiom); piecemeal work

phrase
líng qiāo suì dǎHSK 5+

to do things in bits and pieces (idiom); piecemeal work

phrase
pángqiāocèjīHSK 6+

to express something indirectly by making oblique statements; to beat around the bush

phrase
qiāo dīng zuān jiǎoHSK 7+

to make doubly sure (idiom)

phrase
qiāo shān zhèn hǔHSK 5+

a deliberate show of strength as a warning

phrase
qiāozhàlèsuǒHSK 7+

to blackmail and impose exactions on; to extort and racketeer

phrase
qiāo luó biān erHSK 4+

to strike the edge of the gong; (fig.) to stir the pot (i.e. cause or exacerbate a dispute)

phrase
àng yú xiāng qiāoHSK 4+

(idiom) to quarrel

phrase

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

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.

马来西亚诗华日报新闻网Feb 2026

968所学校列第7级残旧!校舍安全再警钟

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

EttodayFeb 2026

经典赛混血好手费尔柴德安 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

LtnFeb 2026

王菲连两年春晚开唱!粉丝碗办演唱会 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

LtnFeb 2026

...》郑宗哲热身赛首扛先发游击 全场2支0、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

UdnnewsindexFeb 2026

美最高法院这一槌 能醒赖政府?

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?

Tatoeba

雨滴打窗户玻璃。

Yǔdī qiāodǎ chuānghu bōli.

The rain beats against the window pane.

Tatoeba

汤姆试图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.

Tatoeba

刚刚过了八点钟,不是吗?

Gānggang qiāo guo le bā diǎnzhōng, bù shì ma?

It has just struck eight, hasn't it?

Tatoeba

汤姆被竹杠了。

Tāngmǔ bèi qiāo zhúgàng le.

Tom got ripped off.

Character Family

Homophones — Characters pronounced qiāo

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 敲 (qiāo) mean in Chinese?
敲 (qiāo) primarily means "to hit." It is classified as HSK Level 4, making it an upper-intermediate character. It ranks #1716 in character frequency.
What's the difference between 敲 and 搞?
敲 (qiāo) and 搞 (gǎo) are often confused. confusable. The key distinguishing feature: 攵 vs 扌 (same 高 component).
How many strokes does 敲 have?
敲 is written with 14 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 敲?
The radical associated with 敲 is 攵 (rap). This radical appears in many characters related to rap.
What are the components of 敲?
敲 is composed of: 高 (phonetic), 攴 (semantic). Its IDS decomposition is ⿰高攴 with a left-right layout. Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.
What are common words containing 敲?
Common words with 敲 include: 敲门 (qiāo mén, "to knock on a door"); 敲诈 (qiāo zhà, "to rip off"); 敲打 (qiāo dǎ, "to beat sb"); 敲响 (qiāo xiǎng, "to sound a bell"); 敲击 (qiāo jī, "to pound"). There are over 34 compound words containing this character.
What characters sound the same as 敲 (qiāo)?
Several characters share the pronunciation qiāo: 壳 ((coll.) shell (of an egg, nut, crab etc)), 悄 (quiet), 乔 (tall), 侨 (emigrant), and 2 more. Context and tones help distinguish between them in speech and writing.
Is 敲 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Yes, 敲 is written the same way in both simplified and traditional Chinese.

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.