How to Write 校 (jiào/xiào) — Meaning “School / To check”

Picture a wooden (木) school building where students cross paths (交) in the hallways. You can also think of "school" as a place where you "check" (校对) your homework, linking the two pronunciations xiào and jiào. This visual of crossing wood helps fix the character in memory.

Write the left radical 木 first: horizontal stroke, vertical stroke, then left-falling and right-falling strokes, keeping it narrow. Then add the right side 交: start with a dot on top, a horizontal line, then two diagonal strokes (left-falling then right-falling), followed by another left-falling and a vertical stroke that crosses the center. A common mistake is making the right side too wide or forgetting the top dot – keep both sides balanced.

校 has the right side 交 (a dot, horizontal, then two diagonal strokes and a crossing vertical), while 杪 has 少 (small or few) with a small vertical hook. 杭 has 亢 (a tall person-like shape) on the right. Their meanings are also different: 校 means school or check, 杪 means treetop, and 杭 is used in place names like Hángzhōu.

校 appears in everyday words like 学校 (school) and 校园 (campus) when pronounced xiào, and in 校对 (proofread) when pronounced jiào. In Chinese culture, 学校 is the most common word for any educational institution, from elementary to university. The character also features in titles like 校长 (school principal), showing its central role in education.

Common words containing 校 include: 学校 (xué xiào) — School; 校园 (xiào yuán) — Campus; 校对 (jiào duì) — Proofread; check against a standard..