咀 meaning and stroke order
To suck; to chew
How to write 咀, stroke by stroke
8 strokes in order. Each box adds the next stroke in red. Write top to bottom and left to right, and finish enclosing strokes last.
- 1
- 2
- 3
- 4
- 5
- 6
- 7
- 8
Meaning of 咀
Definitions from CC-CEDICT, grouped by pronunciation.
- to chew
- to masticate
- popular variant of 嘴[zui3]
How 咀 is built
Phono-semantic (sound + meaning) character. Mouth.
口 gives the meaning and 且 hints at the sound.
Radical: 口 (mouth), shared by 428 characters on this site.
How to remember 咀
咀 is a mouth 口 on the left with 且 on the right. 口 tells you it is something the mouth does, and 且 (qiě) hints at the sound, so picture a mouth working steadily on food: chewing.
咀 (jǔ) almost always appears in the word 咀嚼 (jǔjué), which means to chew and also, figuratively, to think something over carefully. Example: 吃饭要慢慢咀嚼。(Chī fàn yào mànmàn jǔjué.) You should chew your food slowly.
Common mistake: Learners often mix up 咀 with 阻 (zǔ, to block) and 组 (zǔ, group), which share the 且 part but have different radicals and the tone zǔ. Also note that 嚼 in 咀嚼 is read jué here, not jiáo.
Common words with 咀
Ordered by HSK level, then by how often they appear in everyday Chinese.
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning | Level |
|---|---|---|---|
| 咀嚼 | jǔjué | to chew; to think over |
咀 in example sentences
Real sentences from the Tatoeba project, with pinyin and English.
Questions about 咀
How many strokes are in 咀?
咀 is written with 8 strokes. The diagrams on this page number every stroke in the order it is written, with the new stroke shown in red.
What does 咀 mean?
咀 (jǔ) means to suck; to chew. A common word with it is 咀嚼 (jǔjué), meaning "to chew; to think over".
How do you pronounce 咀?
咀 is pronounced jǔ, in the third tone (dipping).
What is the radical of 咀?
The radical of 咀 is 口, which carries the idea of "mouth". Dictionaries list 咀 under this radical.
Why is 咀 sometimes read zuǐ?
In popular usage 咀 is written as a variant of 嘴 (zuǐ, mouth). You may see it in place names in Hong Kong, such as 尖沙咀 (Jiānshāzuǐ). In standard Mandarin texts, use 嘴 for mouth.
Can 咀嚼 be used about ideas, not just food?
Yes. 咀嚼 can mean to ponder or savor something, like a poem or someone's words. For example, 咀嚼这句话的意思 means to think over the meaning of this sentence.