How to Write 浃 (jiā) — Meaning “soak / saturate”

Imagine a person sweating so much that water (氵) is being squeezed out from both sides of their body, like being pressed (夹) by heat. The idiom 汗流浃背 (drenched in sweat) directly uses this image, so think of that phrase when writing the character.

The right part 夹 has 6 strokes: first a short horizontal, then a left-falling stroke, a right-falling stroke (捺) that should be the longest, followed by two left-falling strokes and a dot. A common mistake is making the right side too wide or confusing the 捺 with a longer horizontal; keep the 夹 compact and balanced with the water radical.

浃 contains 夹 (jiā) on the right, while 汧 uses 开 (kāi) – note that 开 has two horizontal lines and a vertical stroke, not the long 捺 of 夹. 㳄 is a very rare character with 欠 on the right and usually means 'saliva'; it is not used in modern Chinese like 浃. Visually, 浃 is the only one with the distinct 夹 component.

浃 is rarely used alone; it appears mainly in the idiom 汗流浃背 (hàn liú jiā bèi), meaning 'drenched in sweat.' This phrase is very common in everyday speech and writing to describe sweating heavily from hard work or hot weather. Another word is 浃洽 (jiā qià), meaning 'harmonious,' but it is less frequent.

Common words containing 浃 include: 汗流浃背 (hàn liú jiā bèi) — sweating profusely / drenched in sweat; 浃洽 (jiā qià) — harmonious / in agreement; 浃辰 (jiā chén) — a period of twelve days.