焦 meaning and stroke order
Burnt; scorched; charred
How to write 焦, stroke by stroke
12 strokes in order. Each box adds the next stroke in red. Write top to bottom and left to right, and finish enclosing strokes last.
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Meaning of 焦
Definitions from CC-CEDICT, grouped by pronunciation.
- burnt
- scorched
- charred
- worried
- anxious
- coke
How 焦 is built
Ideographic (compound meaning) character. A bird 隹 getting its tail singed 灬.
Radical: 灬 (fire), shared by 28 characters on this site.
How to remember 焦
Picture a bird 隹 standing over fire 灬 until its tail gets singed. A scorched bird is also an anxious bird, which links the two meanings of 焦 (jiāo): burnt and worried.
焦 appears mostly in compounds. It covers burnt food, as in 烤焦 (kǎojiāo), worry, as in 焦虑 (jiāolǜ) and 焦急 (jiāojí), and focus, as in 焦点 (jiāodiǎn). Example: 面包烤焦了。(Miànbāo kǎojiāo le.) The bread got burnt.
Common mistake: Learners often confuse 焦 with 熊 (xióng, bear) and 照 (zhào, to shine), because all three have the four dots 灬 at the bottom. The top of 焦 is the bird 隹, which has four horizontal strokes on the right, so do not drop one.
Common words with 焦
Ordered by HSK level, then by how often they appear in everyday Chinese.
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning | Level |
|---|---|---|---|
| 焦点 | jiāodiǎn | (lit. and fig.) focal point; focus | HSK 6 |
| 焦虑 | jiāolǜ | anxious; worried | HSK 7-9 |
| 焦躁 | jiāozào | fretful; impatient | HSK 7-9 |
| 焦急 | jiāojí | anxiety; anxious | HSK 7-9 |
| 焦距 | jiāojù | focal length; focal distance | HSK 7-9 |
| 烧焦 | shāojiāo | to burn; to scorch | |
| 焦糖 | jiāotáng | caramel | |
| 烤焦 | kǎojiāo | to burn (food by overroasting etc) | |
| 聚焦 | jùjiāo | to focus (light, electron beam etc); to focus attention | |
| 焦头烂额 | jiāotóulàn'é | lit. badly burned about the head (from trying to put out a fire) (idiom); fig. hard-presse | |
| 焦耳 | jiāo'ěr | (loanword) joule | |
| 焦炭 | jiāotàn | coke (processed coal used in blast furnace) |
焦 in example sentences
Real sentences from the Tatoeba project, with pinyin and English.
Characters that contain 焦
Learning 焦 makes these easier to recognize and write.
Questions about 焦
How many strokes are in 焦?
焦 is written with 12 strokes. The diagrams on this page number every stroke in the order it is written, with the new stroke shown in red.
What does 焦 mean?
焦 (jiāo) means burnt; scorched; charred. A common word with it is 焦点 (jiāodiǎn), meaning "(lit. and fig.) focal point; focus".
How do you pronounce 焦?
焦 is pronounced jiāo, in the first tone (high and level).
What is the radical of 焦?
The radical of 焦 is 灬, which carries the idea of "fire". Dictionaries list 焦 under this radical.
Is 焦 on the HSK exam?
Yes. 焦 is part of the HSK 6 character list in the HSK 3.0 standard.
What is the difference between 焦虑 and 焦急?
焦急 (jiāojí) is urgent worry about something happening right now, like waiting for news. 焦虑 (jiāolǜ) is a more lasting or general anxiety and is also the word used for anxiety as a psychological condition.
Why does 焦 mean focus in 焦点?
A lens gathers light to one point that can burn things, so the burning point became the focal point. That is why 焦 also shows up in camera terms like 焦距 (jiāojù), focal length.