How to Write 颊 (jiá) — Meaning “cheek”

Imagine a face (页) being squeezed (夹) from both sides, forming your cheeks. The character looks like two hands pressing the sides of a head, which is your cheek area.

The left part 夹 has five strokes: horizontal, left-falling, dot, left-falling, right-falling — make sure the last two strokes are balanced. The right part 页 has six strokes, ending with a small dot for the final stroke. Keep both halves similar in width.

颊 uses the phonetic component 夹 and means 'cheek'. 顼 (xū) has 玉 (jade) on the left and is mostly a surname; it has nothing to do with the face. 顽 (wán) has 元 on the left and means 'stubborn' or 'naughty', which comes from the idea of a hard head (页). Visual difference is the left side character.

颊 is used in formal or written contexts, such as in 脸颊 (liǎn jiá, 'cheek') and 颊部 (jiá bù, 'cheek area'). It appears in idioms like 颊齿留香 (jiá chǐ liú xiāng), describing delicious food that leaves fragrance on your cheeks and teeth, and in cosmetic descriptions.

Common words containing 颊 include: 脸颊 (liǎn jiá) — cheek; 颊部 (jiá bù) — cheek area / cheeks; 腮颊 (sāi jiá) — cheek.