How to Write 噍 (jiào) — Meaning “to chew; to eat”

Picture a mouth (口) chewing on a piece of burnt toast (焦). The image of making a crunchy "jiào" sound while eating something scorched connects the character's form to its meaning of "to chew."

Write the left 口 small and compact, positioned high. Then write the right part 焦: first the top 隹, then the bottom four dots (灬) from left to right. A common mistake is making the 口 too large or misaligning the dots under 隹.

噍 has the structure 口 + 焦 and means "to chew." 㕡 (an ancient character) often relates to a gully or valley, while 喿 has three 口 stacked over 木 and means "to chirp" or "noise." Visually, 噍 uses 焦, while the others use very different components.

噍 is a formal, literary character rarely used in daily speech. It appears in classical phrases like 噍类 (living beings) and 噍嚼 (to chew). For everyday "chew," most Chinese people use 咀嚼 (jǔ jué) instead.

Common words containing 噍 include: 噍类 (jiào lèi) — living beings; humans; 噍嚼 (jiào jué) — to chew; 噍着 (jiào zhe) — chewing.