啸 (xiào): (of people) to whistle, (of birds and animals) to screech, to howl, to roar
啸 (xiào) is a Chinese character meaning “(of people) to whistle.” Classified as HSK Level 7-9 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of 口 (semantic) and 肃 (phonetic). It ranks #2239 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).
Etymologically derived, 啸 mouth. Its radical form 口 (mouth) appears in many related characters such as 口 (kǒu, mouth), 叫 (jiào, to call, to be called), 右 (yòu, (bound form) right).
Definitions
- (of people) to whistle
- (of birds and animals) to screech
- to howl
- to roar
Etymology & Origin
Stroke Order
Practice writing 啸 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 |
|---|---|---|
| 海啸 | hǎi xiào | tsunami |
| 呼啸 | hū xiào | to whistle |
| 呼啸而过 | hū xiào ér guò | to whistle past |
| 啸叫 | xiào jiào | to squeal |
| 台湾紫啸鸫 | tái wān zǐ xiào dōng | (bird species of China) Taiwan whistling thrush (Myophonus insularis) |
| 汪啸风 | wāng xiào fēng | Wang Xiaofeng (1944-), fourth governor of Hainan |
| 紫啸鸫 | zǐ xiào dōng | (bird species of China) blue whistling thrush (Myophonus caeruleus) |
| 奚啸伯 | xī xiào bó | Xi Xiaobo (1910-1977), Beijing opera star, one of the Four great beards 四大鬚生|四大须生 |
啸 appears in 8 compound words: 13 as the first character, 25 as the last, and 63 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 啸 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.
Example Sentences
请啸下这杯茶，解解渴再继续工作。
qǐng xiào xià zhè bēi chá , xiè xiè kě zài jì xù gōng zuò .
Please take a sip of this tea to quench your thirst before continuing your work.
日本311大地震将届满15周年 “海啸提琴”来台演奏
rì běn 3 1 1 dà dì zhèn jiāng jiè mǎn 1 5 zhōu nián hǎi xiào tí qín lái tái yǎn zòu
The 15th anniversary of the 311 earthquake in Japan "Tsunami Violin" came to Taiwan to perform
龙吟虎啸:美元地位曾经衰落
lóng yín hǔ xiào : měi yuán dì wèi céng jīng shuāi luò
The roar of the dragon and the roar: The status of the dollar has declined
马来西亚外海7.1强震 震源极深未发海啸警报
mǎ lái xī yà wài hǎi 7 . 1 qiáng zhèn zhèn yuán jí shēn wèi fā hǎi xiào jǐng bào
The 7.1 strong earthquake off the coast of Malaysia had a very deep epicenter and no tsunami warning was issued
马来西亚沙巴外海7.1级地震 无海啸威胁
mǎ lái xī yà shā bā wài hǎi 7 . 1 jí dì zhèn wú hǎi xiào wēi xié
A magnitude 7.1 earthquake off the coast of Sabah, Malaysia, has no tsunami threat
马来西亚附近海域7.1级地震 未发海啸预警
mǎ lái xī yà fù jìn hǎi yù 7 . 1 jí dì zhèn wèi fā hǎi xiào yù jǐng
A magnitude 7.1 earthquake in the waters near Malaysia did not issue a tsunami warning
海啸席卷稻田, 淹没了城镇。
Hǎixiào xíjuǎn dàotián, yānmò le chéngzhèn.
Tsunamis swept through rice fields and flooded the towns.
日本发生规模8.9的强烈地震, 引发强大海啸。
Rìběn fāshēng guīmó bā diǎn jiǔ de qiángliè dìzhèn, yǐnfā qiángdà hǎixiào.
An earthquake, 8.9 on the Richter scale, hits Japan and causes a massive tsunami.
海啸来了，密切注意啊。
Hǎixiào lái le, mìqièzhùyì ā.
A tsunami is coming, so please be on the alert.
海啸的警报解除了。
Hǎixiào de jǐngbào jiěchú le.
The tsunami alert was cancelled.
Character Family
Frequently Asked Questions
What does 啸 (xiào) mean in Chinese?
How many strokes does 啸 have?
What is the radical of 啸?
What are the components of 啸?
What are common words containing 啸?
What characters sound the same as 啸 (xiào)?
Is 啸 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Practice writing 啸 with real-time feedback
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