(xiáo): confused and disorderly, mixed

(xiáo) is a Chinese character meaning “confused and disorderly.” Classified as HSK Level 7-9 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of (semantic) and (phonetic). It ranks #2860 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Etymologically derived, water. Its radical form (water) appears in many related characters such as (shuǐ, water), (hàn, Han ethnic group), (, steam).

Spoken pronunciation

Definitions

  1. confused and disorderly
  2. mixed

Etymology & Origin

pictophoneticwater

Decomposition: ⿰氵肴 (layout: left-right)

Stroke Order

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11

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
verbhùn xiáoto obscure
phrasehùn xiáo shì tīngto obscure the facts (idiom)
phrasehùn xiáo shì fēito confuse right and wrong (idiom)
hùn xiáo hēi báito confuse black and white
adjectivexiáo luànto confuse
xiáo záto mix up
6
Total compounds
33
As first character
17
As last character
50
As middle character

appears in 6 compound words: 33 as the first character, 17 as the last, and 50 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.

hùn
0.72615,022 co-occurrences
0.430612 co-occurrences
miǎn
0.416758 co-occurrences
0.382704 co-occurrences
tīng
0.340110 co-occurrences
xiāng
0.3381,142 co-occurrences
róng
0.331454 co-occurrences
huò
0.31744 co-occurrences
0.312172 co-occurrences
shì
0.258118 co-occurrences

Idioms & Chengyu (3)

hùn xiáo hēi báiHSK 7+

to confuse black and white; to say that black is white; fig. not to distinguish right from wrong

phrase
hùnxiáoshìtīngHSK 7+

to mislead the public with prevarication and deliberate falsehoods; to obscure the facts

phrase
hùnxiáo shìfēiHSK 7+

to confuse right and wrong

phrase

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

清晨的面波光粼粼,倒映着岸边的柳树。

qīng chén de xiáo miàn bō guāng 粼 粼 , dǎo yìng zhe àn biān de liǔ shù .

The early morning mist shimmered on the water's surface, reflecting the willow trees along the shore.

中国新闻网·生活Aug 2026

一些健康误区要注意科学辨识,防止因混症状而造成误判、延误治疗。

yī xiē jiàn kāng wù qū yāo zhù yì kē xué biàn shí , fáng zhǐ yīn hùn xiáo zhèng zhuàng ér zào chéng wù pàn , yán wù zhì liáo .

It is important to scientifically distinguish between common health misconceptions to prevent misdiagnosis and delays in treatment caused by confusion over symptoms.

爱范儿Jul 2026

这相当于为策略增加一种紧凑的“动作记忆”,避免单帧观察造成的状态混

zhè xiāng dāng yú wéi cè lüè zēng jiā yī zhǒng jǐn còu de dòng zuò jì yì , bì miǎn dān 帧 guàn chá zào chéng de zhuàng tài hùn xiáo .

This is equivalent to adding a compact "action memory" to the policy, which prevents state confusion caused by single-frame observations.

中国新闻网·生活Jun 2026

精准辨别杜绝误采 野外野草种类繁杂,不少人容易将艾草与茼蒿、野菊花混

jīng zhǔn biàn bié dù jué wù cǎi yě wài yě cǎo zhǒng lèi fán zá , bù shǎo rén róng yì jiāng ài cǎo yǔ 茼 蒿 , yě jú huā hùn xiáo .

Accurate Identification to Prevent Mistakes: With such a wide variety of wild plants, many people easily confuse mugwort with Chinese chrysanthemum or wild chrysanthemum.

少数派May 2026

设置里还可以调节混频率、指定时间段等。

shè zhì lǐ hái kě yǐ diào jié hùn xiáo pín lǜ , zhǐ dìng shí jiān duàn děng .

In the settings, you can also adjust the shuffling frequency, specify time periods, and more.

TvbsMar 2026

...发声!指“2关键”怒轰社工陈尚洁:企图混视听

. . . fā shēng ! zhǐ 2 guān jiàn nù hōng shè gōng chén shàng jié : qǐ tú hùn xiáo shì tīng

...speaks out! Cites "two key points" to harshly criticize social worker Chen Shangjie: attempting to confuse the public

Tatoeba

我又把它们混了!

Wǒ yòu bǎ tāmen hùnxiáo le!

I mixed them up again!

Tatoeba

不要把奥地利和澳大利亚混

Bù yào bǎ àodìlì hé àodàlìyà hùnxiáo.

Don't confuse Austria with Australia.

Tatoeba

这两个词容易混

Zhè liǎng gè cí róngyì hùnxiáo.

These two words are easily confused.

Tatoeba

别混美洲和美国,美洲人和美国人。

Bié hùnxiáo Měizhōu hé Měiguó, Měizhōurén hé Měiguórén.

Don't mix up the Americas with the United States of America, or citizens of the Americas with citizens of the United States.

Character Family

Semantic Family — Characters sharing the 氵 (water) component

Homophones — Characters pronounced xiáo

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 淆 (xiáo) mean in Chinese?
淆 (xiáo) primarily means "confused and disorderly." It is classified as HSK Level 7-9, making it an expert-level character. It ranks #2860 in character frequency.
How many strokes does 淆 have?
淆 is written with 11 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 淆?
The radical associated with 淆 is 氵 (water). This radical appears in many characters related to water.
What are the components of 淆?
淆 is composed of: 氵 (semantic), 肴 (phonetic). Its IDS decomposition is ⿰氵肴 with a left-right layout. Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.
What are common words containing 淆?
Common words with 淆 include: 混淆 (hùn xiáo, "to obscure"); 混淆视听 (hùn xiáo shì tīng, "to obscure the facts (idiom)"); 混淆是非 (hùn xiáo shì fēi, "to confuse right and wrong (idiom)"); 混淆黑白 (hùn xiáo hēi bái, "to confuse black and white"); 淆乱 (xiáo luàn, "to confuse"). There are over 6 compound words containing this character.
What characters sound the same as 淆 (xiáo)?
Several characters share the pronunciation xiáo: 小 (small), 笑 (to laugh), 消 (to diminish), 效 (effect), and 6 more. Context and tones help distinguish between them in speech and writing.
Is 淆 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Yes, 淆 is written the same way in both simplified and traditional Chinese.

Practice writing 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.