呛 (qiāng) is a Chinese character meaning “to choke”. It is written from 口 (mouth) and 仓 (storehouse; granary), side by side, and takes 7 strokes. It has a second reading, qiàng, which turns up in 呛人 — here the two readings are two separate things to learn, not one card with two answers.
Build the character for “to choke on food or water”
Four steps: break it apart, build it, recall it, use it in a word.
StartLearn this character
Structure
口 + 仓
Left–right structure
Structure from: 现代字形拆分：⿰口仓，笔画数经 hanzi-writer-data 核验（口 3 + 仓 4 = 7）；仓 cāng 为声符
Memory aid
Dust billows out of the granary (仓) straight into your mouth (口) — you cough and choke.
This is a memory aid, not the historical origin.
Stroke order
7 strokes
In real words
- 呛水qiāng shuǐto choke on water; to get water down the wrong pipe呛 = qiāng
Go deeper
All readings
to choke
to choke; to have food or water go down the wrong way and make you cough
食物或水进入气管，引起咳嗽。 — studyhanzi 编写
Words with this reading
- 呛水qiāng shuǐto choke on water; to get water down the wrong pipe呛 = qiāng
to irritate (throat or nose)
(of smoke, dust or a strong smell) to irritate the throat or nose; acrid
烟、尘或强烈气味刺激鼻子和喉咙。 — studyhanzi 编写
Words with this reading
- 呛人qiàng rénacrid; irritating to breathe in呛 = qiàng
Stroke data: hanzi-writer-data (Arphic Public License) · licenses & attributions
Questions people ask about this character
What does 呛 mean?
呛 (qiāng) means to choke; to have food or water go down the wrong way and make you cough.
How do you pronounce 呛?
Its main reading is qiāng. It also has a second reading, qiàng, which only shows up in certain words such as 呛人 — so the word tells you the reading, not the character on its own.
Why is 呛 sometimes pronounced qiàng?
Because it is a multi-reading character: each reading carries a different sense, and the word decides which one applies. In 呛人 it is read qiàng.
What parts is 呛 made of?
口 (mouth) and 仓 (storehouse; granary), side by side. The recorded source is: 现代字形拆分：⿰口仓，笔画数经 hanzi-writer-data 核验（口 3 + 仓 4 = 7）；仓 cāng 为声符. Components are the building blocks of the shape; the radical used for dictionary lookup is a separate thing.
How many strokes does 呛 have?
7. You can watch the stroke order on this page, or trace it yourself.
What is the radical of 呛?
口. The radical is how the character is filed in a dictionary — it is not the whole story of how the character is built.
What words use 呛?
Common ones are 呛水. The reading of 呛 is not the same in every word, so each word on this page shows which reading applies.