茄 (qié): eggplant, phonetic character used in loanwords for the sound "jia", although 夾|夹 is more common

茄 (qié) is a Chinese character meaning “eggplant.” Classified as HSK Level 5 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of 艹 (semantic) and 加 (phonetic). It ranks #2820 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Etymologically derived, 茄 plant. Its radical form 艹 (grass) appears in many related characters such as 花 (huā, flower), 茶 (chá, tea), 菜 (cài, vegetable, dish).

Spoken pronunciation

Definitions

  1. eggplant
  2. phonetic character used in loanwords for the sound "jia", although 夾|夹 is more common

Etymology & Origin

茄

pictophoneticplant

Decomposition: ⿱艹加 (layout: top-bottom)

Stroke Order

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8

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

Words & Compounds

HSK Vocabulary with 茄

WordPinyinMeaningHSK
番茄nounfān qiétomato5

Common Compounds

WordPinyinMeaning
雪茄nounxuě jiā(loanword) cigar
番茄酱nounfān qié jiàngketchup
茄子nounqié zieggplant (Solanum melongena L.)
蕃茄fān qiévariant of 番茄
雪茄烟nounxuě jiā yāncigar
欧米茄表公司ōu mǐ jiā biǎo gōng sīOmega SA, Swiss luxury watchmaker
茄子河区qié zi hé qūQiezihe, a district of Qitaihe City 七臺河市|七台河市, Heilongjiang
茄二十八星瓢虫qié èr shí bā xīng piáo chóng28-spotted ladybird
铁板茄子tiě bǎn qié zieggplant served sizzling on a hot iron plate
茄子河qié zi hésee 茄子河區|茄子河区
烧茄子shāo qié zistewed eggplant
雪茄头xuě jiā tóucigarette lighter plug (inserted in a car's cigarette lighter socket to draw power)
茄红素nounqié hóng sùLycopene
番茄红素nounfān qié hóng sùLycopene
小番茄xiǎo fān qiécherry tomato
26
Total compounds
31
As first character
38
As last character
31
As middle character

茄 appears in 26 compound words: 31 as the first character, 38 as the last, and 31 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 茄 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.

番fān
0.6844,874 co-occurrences
酱jiàng
0.530280 co-occurrences
烂làn
0.517252 co-occurrences
汁zhī
0.493350 co-occurrences
薯shǔ
0.469194 co-occurrences
叼diāo
0.45930 co-occurrences
雪xuě
0.4301,436 co-occurrences
炒chǎo
0.425138 co-occurrences
葱cōng
0.41750 co-occurrences
颠diān
0.40384 co-occurrences

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

茄字的写法很特别,让我印象深刻。

jiā zì de xiě fǎ hěn tè bié , ràng wǒ yìn xiàng shēn kè .

The way the character for "eggplant" is written is quite unique and has left a deep impression on me.

TvbsApr 2026

小番茄洗完再冰超NG!买回家少做“这事”细菌飙...

xiǎo fān jiā xǐ wán zài bīng chāo N G ! mǎi huí jiā shǎo zuò zhè shì xì jūn biāo . . .

Washing cherry tomatoes before putting them in the fridge is a big no-no! If you don’t do “this” after bringing them home, bacteria will multiply...

SmzdmApr 2026

番茄种植四步法:从定植到保果的全流程技术要点

fān jiā zhǒng zhí sì bù fǎ : cóng dìng zhí dào bǎo guǒ de quán liú chéng jì shù yāo diǎn

Four-Step Guide to Tomato Cultivation: Key Technical Points from Transplanting to Fruit Retention

UdnnewsindexApr 2026

高雄小货车掉落一箱蕃茄 一群机车闪过但仍酿女子压到摔车

gāo xióng xiǎo huò chē diào luò yī xiāng fān jiā yī qún jī chē shǎn guò dàn réng niàng nǚ zǐ yā dào shuāi chē

A box of tomatoes fell from a small truck in Kaohsiung; a group of motorcyclists swerved to avoid it, but a woman was still struck and fell from her bike.

中時新聞網Mar 2026

老牌番茄酱超单纯 大票喊“成分都看得懂”

lǎo pái fān jiā jiàng chāo dān chún dà piào hǎn chéng fēn dōu kàn dé dǒng

Long-standing ketchup brand keeps it simple; many fans say, "I can actually understand the ingredients."

Hk01.comFeb 2026

游飚逝世|曾被称为“茄哩啡”即不爽话唔准叫:临时演员都系演员

yóu 飚 shì shì céng bèi chèn wéi jiā 哩 fēi jí bù shuǎng huà 唔 zhǔn jiào : lín shí yǎn yuán dōu xì yǎn yuán

You Biao's death, once known as "Eggplant," means that extras are all actors

Tatoeba

番茄容易遭受很多病害。

Fānqié róngyì zāoshòu hěn duō bìnghài.

The tomato is subject to a number of diseases.

Tatoeba

我的三明治里有肉,奶酪和番茄。

Wǒ de sānmíngzhì lǐ yǒu ròu, nǎilào hé fānqié.

In my sandwich there is meat, cheese and tomatoes.

Tatoeba

严格地讲,番茄是水果。

Yángé de jiǎng, fānqié shì shuǐguǒ.

Strictly speaking, the tomato is a fruit.

Tatoeba

严格来说,蕃茄不是蔬菜,是水果。

Yángéláishuō, fānqié bù shì shūcài, shì shuǐguǒ.

Strictly speaking, the tomato is not a vegetable. It's a fruit.

Character Family

Semantic Family — Characters sharing the 艹 (plant) component

Homophones — Characters pronounced qié

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 茄 (qié) mean in Chinese?
茄 (qié) primarily means "eggplant." It is classified as HSK Level 5, making it an advanced character. It ranks #2820 in character frequency.
What's the difference between 茄 and 架?
茄 (qié) and 架 (jià) are often confused. confusable. The key distinguishing feature: 艹 vs 木 (same 加 component).
How many strokes does 茄 have?
茄 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 茄?
The radical associated with 茄 is 艹 (grass). This radical appears in many characters related to grass.
What are the components of 茄?
茄 is composed of: 艹 (semantic), 加 (phonetic). Its IDS decomposition is ⿱艹加 with a top-bottom layout. Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.
What are common words containing 茄?
Common words with 茄 include: 雪茄 (xuě jiā, "(loanword) cigar"); 番茄酱 (fān qié jiàng, "ketchup"); 茄子 (qié zi, "eggplant (Solanum melongena L.)"); 番茄 (fān qié, "tomato"); 蕃茄 (fān qié, "variant of 番茄"). There are over 26 compound words containing this character.
What characters sound the same as 茄 (qié)?
Several characters share the pronunciation qié: 且 (and), 切 (to cut), 窃 (to steal), 怯 (timid). Context and tones help distinguish between them in speech and writing.
Is 茄 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Yes, 茄 is written the same way in both simplified and traditional Chinese.

Practice writing 茄 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.