HSK 6 · Verbs
叼 diāo “to hold in the mouth” in Chinese
Same in Traditional
What 叼 means
- to hold in the mouth
- to hold with one’s mouth (as a smoker with a cigarette or a dog with a bone)
How to say 叼
叼diāo1st tone, high and level
叼 in a sentence
How 叼 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.

叼diāoto hold with one’s mouth
- 口mouth · kǒuMeaning part
- 刁tricky · diāoSound part
口 hints at the meaning (mouth); 刁 (diāo) hints at the sound. Compare it with diāo.
How to write 叼
叼 5 strokes
Watch the order, then press Try writing it and draw each stroke in the grid. Each stroke is checked as you go.

Words related to 叼
More words: Common Verbs
FAQs
叼 (diāo) means “to hold in the mouth” or “to hold with one’s mouth (as a smoker with a cigarette or a dog with a bone)”. It is an HSK 6 word.
Say it diāo: diāo with a 1st tone. Press Listen at the top of this page to hear it, or Slowly to hear each tone clearly.
Yes. 叼 is written the same way in Simplified and Traditional characters.
Add a Chinese (Simplified) pinyin keyboard to your phone or computer, type diao with no tone marks or spaces, then choose 叼 from the suggestions. Typing diao into this dictionary’s search box finds it too.
叼 is an HSK 6 word in the HSK 2.0 word lists.
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.