HSK 4 · Food

饺子 jiǎozi “dumpling” in Chinese

Traditional 餃子

What 饺子 means

  1. dumpling
  2. pot-sticker

Measure word 个 gè or 只 zhī · 一个饺子 yí ge jiǎozi

How to say 饺子

  • Pitch chart of the third tone: dips low then rises, 2 to 1 to 4 on the five-level scale饺jiǎo3rd tone, dipping
  • Pitch chart of the neutral tone: short and light, with no contour of its own子zineutral tone, light and short

Grey pinyin is a neutral tone: say it short and light. More on the neutral tone

饺子 in a sentence

  1. 这饺子是什么馅的啊？

    Zhè jiǎozi shì shénme xiàn de a?

    What’s the filling in these dumplings?

    Sentence #630348 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

  2. 晚上我们去吃饺子，好吗？

    Wǎnshang wǒmen qù chī jiǎozi, hǎo ma?

    Shall we go out for dumplings tonight?

    Sentence #2309573 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

  3. 饺子是年夜饭桌上必不可少的。

    Jiǎozi shì niányèfàn zhuō shàng bìbùkěshǎo de.

    Dumplings are a must on the table at the New Year’s Eve dinner.

    Sentence #756987 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

How 饺子 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 饺 (jiǎo) with each of its parts in a different colour
饺jiǎodumplings with meat filling
  • 饣eat form of 食 · shíMeaning part
  • 交to connect · jiāoSound part

饣 hints at the meaning (eat); 交 (jiāo) hints at the sound. Compare it with jiǎo.

The character 子 (zi) with each of its parts in a different colour
子zinoun suffix, as in 椅子 “chair”
  • 了clear · le
  • 一one · yī

Memory aidA baby with its arms out and its legs wrapped up.

How to write 饺子

饺 9 strokes · 子 3 strokes

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

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

Words related to 饺子

Words with 子

儿子érzi · son椅子yǐzi · chair桌子zhuōzi · table杯子bēizi · cup妻子qīzi · wife孩子háizi · child本子běnzi · book子zi · (common noun suffix)裤子kùzi · pants帽子màozi · hat

More words: Food & Drink

包子bāozi · bao (steamed stuffed bun)饼干bǐnggān · biscuit干杯gānbēi · to drink a toast果汁guǒzhī · fruit juice烤鸭kǎoyā · roast duck苦kǔ · bitter矿泉水kuàngquánshuǐ · mineral water辣là · spicy

FAQs

饺子 (jiǎozi) means “dumpling” or “pot-sticker”. It is an HSK 4 word.
Say it jiǎozi: jiǎo with a 3rd tone, then zi with a neutral tone. Press Listen at the top of this page to hear it, or Slowly to hear each tone clearly.
In Traditional characters, used in Taiwan and Hong Kong, 饺子 is written 餃子. The pronunciation is the same.
Use 个 (gè) or 只 (zhī). For example, one dumpling is 一个饺子 (yí ge jiǎozi).
Add a Chinese (Simplified) pinyin keyboard to your phone or computer, type jiaozi with no tone marks or spaces, then choose 饺子 from the suggestions. Typing jiaozi into this dictionary’s search box finds it too.
饺子 is an HSK 4 word in the HSK 2.0 word lists.

Turn words into conversations

A dictionary gives you the words. A native teacher shows you how to use them. Start with a free 30-minute intro call.

Book a free intro call

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.