啄 (zhuó) is a Chinese character meaning “to peck”. It is written from 口 (mouth) and 豖 (pig with hobbled legs (rare character)), side by side, and takes 11 strokes.
Build the character for “to peck”
Four steps: break it apart, build it, recall it, use it in a word.
StartLearn this character
Structure
口 + 豖
Left–right structure
Structure from: 说文解字: 啄，鸟食也。从口豖声
Memory aid
A mouth (口) jabbing down beside 豖, a pig with hobbled legs — peck, peck, peck!
This is a memory aid, not the historical origin.
Stroke order
11 strokes
In real words
- 啄木鸟zhuó mù niǎowoodpecker啄 = zhuó
- 啄食zhuó shíto peck at food啄 = zhuó
Go deeper
All readings
to peck
to peck; (of a bird) to pick up food with the beak
鸟类用嘴取食或敲击东西。 — studyhanzi 编写
Words with this reading
- 啄木鸟zhuó mù niǎowoodpecker啄 = zhuó
- 啄食zhuó shíto peck at food啄 = zhuó
Stroke data: hanzi-writer-data (Arphic Public License) · licenses & attributions
Questions people ask about this character
What does 啄 mean?
啄 (zhuó) means to peck; (of a bird) to pick up food with the beak.
How do you pronounce 啄?
It is pronounced zhuó.
What parts is 啄 made of?
口 (mouth) and 豖 (pig with hobbled legs (rare character)), side by side. The recorded source is: 说文解字: 啄，鸟食也。从口豖声. Components are the building blocks of the shape; the radical used for dictionary lookup is a separate thing.
How many strokes does 啄 have?
11. You can watch the stroke order on this page, or trace it yourself.
What is the radical of 啄?
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 啄?
Common ones are 啄木鸟 and 啄食. The reading of 啄 is not the same in every word, so each word on this page shows which reading applies.