HSK 3 · Verbs

教 jiāo “teach” in Chinese

Same in Traditional

What 教 means

  1. teach
  2. instruct

How to say 教

  • Pitch chart of the first tone: stays high and level, 5 to 5 on the five-level scale教jiāo1st tone, high and level

教 in a sentence

  1. 你能教我英语吗？

    Nǐ néng jiāo wǒ Yīngyǔ ma?

    Can you teach me English?

    Sentence #2394470 from Tatoeba

  2. 谁教你跳舞的？

    Shéi jiāo nǐ tiàowǔ de?

    Who taught you to dance?

    Sentence #411650 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

  3. 我记得我母亲教我认字。

    Wǒ jìde wǒ mǔqīn jiāo wǒ rènzì.

    I remember my mother teaching me to read.

    Sentence #813480 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

How 教 is built

Each colour is one part of the character. Parts repeat across thousands of characters, so learning them makes new words easier. See all 214 in our radicals chart.

The character 教 (jiào) with each of its parts in a different colour
教jiāoto teach; to instruct
  • 孝filial piety · xiàoSound part
  • 攵tap form of 攴 · pūMeaning part

攵 hints at the meaning (tap); 孝 (xiào) hints at the sound. Compare it with jiāo.

How to write 教

教 11 strokes

Watch the order, then press Try writing it and draw each stroke in the grid. Each stroke is checked as you go.

教 (jiāo) stroke order chart: each stroke of the character in the order you write it
Stroke order chart for 教 (jiāo). Red marks the next stroke, so you can copy it onto paper one step at a time.

Words related to 教

Words with 教

教室jiàoshì · classroom教授jiàoshòu · professor教育jiàoyù · to educate教练jiàoliàn · instructor教训jiàoxun · a lesson (learnt the hard way)教材jiàocái · teaching material请教qǐngjiào · to ask for advice教养jiàoyǎng · upbringing宗教zōngjiào · religion

More words: Common Verbs

花huā · flower画huà · draw换huàn · change见面jiànmiàn · meet/see somebody接jiē · connect结婚jiéhūn · get married结束jiéshù · to end借jiè · lend

FAQs

教 (jiāo) means “teach” or “instruct”. It is an HSK 3 word.
Say it jiāo: jiāo with a 1st tone. Press Listen at the top of this page to hear it, or Slowly to hear each tone clearly.
Yes. 教 is written the same way in Simplified and Traditional characters.
Add a Chinese (Simplified) pinyin keyboard to your phone or computer, type jiao with no tone marks or spaces, then choose 教 from the suggestions. Typing jiao into this dictionary’s search box finds it too.
教 is an HSK 3 word in the HSK 2.0 word lists.

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Sources: meaning and pinyin checked by a native Mandarin teacher against the official HSK lists. Extra meanings from CC-CEDICT (CC BY-SA 4.0). Example sentences from Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR). Character parts and stroke order from Make Me a Hanzi.