How to Write 茭 (jiāo) — Meaning “water bamboo”

Imagine a tall water bamboo plant with leaves like grass (艹) and a crisscross pattern (like 交, meaning 'cross') where the stalks meet. The word 'jiao' sounds like 'jiao' in 'jiaozi' (dumpling), but remember this character is for a vegetable, not food wrapper.

Write the grass radical 艹 first as two horizontal strokes with a vertical in between. Then below, write 交: first a dot, then horizontal, left-falling stroke, right-falling stroke, and finally two strokes for the bottom. A common mistake is making the top grass radical too wide or forgetting the dot in 交.

茭 (jiāo) has a grass radical and a 交 below, meaning water bamboo. 兹 (zī/cí) has a different bottom component (two 幺) and means 'now' or 'this'. 芈 (mǐ) is a ram's bleat or a surname, with a different structure (艹 + 丿 + 正). Visually, 茭's bottom 交 has distinct strokes compared to the others.

茭 is most commonly used in the word 茭白 (jiāo bái), which is water bamboo, a popular vegetable in Chinese cuisine. You might see it in grocery stores or on menus, especially in dishes from southern China. The character is not in HSK but appears in agricultural and culinary contexts.

Common words containing 茭 include: 茭白 (jiāo bái) — water bamboo; 茭草 (jiāo cǎo) — water bamboo grass; 茭笋 (jiāo sǔn) — water bamboo shoot.