浇 (jiāo) is a Chinese character meaning “to water (plants)”. It is written from 氵 (water (left-side form)) and 尧 (Yao (legendary sage emperor); lofty, towering), side by side, and takes 9 strokes.
Build the character for “to water (plants)”
Four steps: break it apart, build it, recall it, use it in a word.
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Structure
氵 + 尧
Left–right structure
Structure from: 说文解字：澆，𣵽也。从水堯聲。Modern glyph split checked stroke by stroke against hanzi-writer-data 2.0.1 (strokes 1–3 = 氵, strokes 4–9 = 尧).
Memory aid
Three drops of water (氵) on the left, and on the right 尧, someone standing up high. Water tipped from high above falls onto what is below — that is 浇, pouring water over the plants.
This is a memory aid, not the historical origin.
Stroke order
9 strokes
In real words
- 浇水jiāo shuǐto water (plants)浇 = jiāo
- 浇花jiāo huāto water the flowers浇 = jiāo
Go deeper
All readings
to water; to pour
to water (plants); to pour liquid over something; to irrigate
把水或别的液体洒、倒在东西上，如给植物浇水。 — studyhanzi 编写
Words with this reading
- 浇水jiāo shuǐto water (plants)浇 = jiāo
- 浇花jiāo huāto water the flowers浇 = jiāo
Sound component
尧 family onset shift
Stroke data: hanzi-writer-data (Arphic Public License) · licenses & attributions
Questions people ask about this character
What does 浇 mean?
浇 (jiāo) means to water (plants); to pour liquid over something; to irrigate.
How do you pronounce 浇?
It is pronounced jiāo.
What parts is 浇 made of?
氵 (water (left-side form)) and 尧 (Yao (legendary sage emperor); lofty, towering), side by side. The recorded source is: 说文解字：澆，𣵽也。从水堯聲。Modern glyph split checked stroke by stroke against hanzi-writer-data 2.0.1 (strokes 1–3 = 氵, strokes 4–9 = 尧).. Components are the building blocks of the shape; the radical used for dictionary lookup is a separate thing.
How many strokes does 浇 have?
9. You can watch the stroke order on this page, or trace it yourself.
What is the radical of 浇?
氵. 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 浇?
Common ones are 浇水 and 浇花. The reading of 浇 is not the same in every word, so each word on this page shows which reading applies.