胶 (jiāo) - Meaning, Stroke Order & Audio

胶

jiāo[jiao1]Tone 1

glue

HSK 5

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膠

Guru Deep Dive

English · glue

Cached lesson

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Topology:Left-right

Strokes:12

Writing Balance Rule: The left radical (月) is narrower and compressed vertically to make room for the wider, structurally complex right component (雚).

Simplification Logic: The traditional form 膠 uses 雚 on the right, while the simplified form 胶 retains the same radical structure with standardized stroke forms.

1. Meaning

glue

gumrubberto stick

noun / verbNeutral#materials#adhesives#science

Sample Usage

请用胶水把它粘上。
Qǐng yòng jiāoshuǐ bǎ tā zhān shàng.
Please use glue to stick it on.
这双鞋的胶底开裂了。
Zhè shuāng xié de jiāodǐ kāiliè le.
The rubber sole of this pair of shoes has cracked.

2. Sound

/[t͡ɕi̯ɑʊ̯⁵⁵]/Tone: 55

胶

jiāojiao1

¯(55)

=jiāo

Initial Consonant

Type: Unaspirated Alveolo-Palatal

Sounds like: j sound as in 'jeep' (unaspirated)

Unaspirated

Airflow Tactile Test: No air puff. Lips spread wide like smiling.

Tongue & Mouth Position: Front of the tongue touches the back of the lower front teeth while the middle of the tongue raises against the hard palate.

Final Rhyme

iao

Vowel Group: -a vowel group

Sounds like: -iao rhymes with 'ow' in 'meow'

Mouth Shape Guide: Pronounce as standalone vowel 'yow'.

Common Learner Trap: Keep vowel quality steady across all 4 tone contours.

Tone

T1 (55)

5 → 5 (55)

1st Tone (High-Flat)

Tone Pitch & Cadence: Maintains a constant high register across the entire syllable, matching an evenly sustained musical note.

👂

Listening trap: Beginners often confuse the palatal 'j-' with the retroflex 'zh-' or alveolar 'z-'. Make sure your tongue stays forward and high against the roof of the mouth, not curled back or behind the teeth.

👋

Physical Tone Gesture: Tone 1 is a steady, high-pitched flat line, like holding a high singing note at the top of your vocal range without any rise or fall.

3. Writing

Topology: Left-right · Strokes: 12 strokes

Writing Balance Rule: The left radical (月) is narrower and compressed vertically to make room for the wider, structurally complex right component (雚).

Simplification Logic: The traditional form 膠 uses 雚 on the right, while the simplified form 胶 retains the same radical structure with standardized stroke forms.

4. Components

Radical 月 · Meat/Flesh Radical (when on the left, often represents body parts or organic substances) (meat or flesh (variant of 月 representing organic matter/gelatinous substance))

Semantic Clue (形旁): 月 (indicates an organic or viscous substance derived originally from animal hide or gelatin)

Phonetic Clue (声旁): 卣 (original sound: jiāo)

Organic matter (月) combined with a vessel/phonetic element (卣) gives us sticky gelatin or glue extracted from animal parts.

月 flesh/organic matter
卣 container/phonetic clue

5. History

Liushu category: Phono-semantic (形声)

Origin: Originally created as a phono-semantic compound where the flesh radical (月) denoted sticky animal gelatin or glue, and the other side provided the sound.

Semantic Evolution: From ancient animal-hide glue and gelatin, the meaning expanded to cover all kinds of adhesives, and modernly extends to rubber and synthetic polymers.

Ancient Chinese glue was famously made by boiling animal tendons, skin, and horns down into a strong adhesive.

6. Sinosphere

🇻🇳

Sino-Vietnamese

giao

High level tone in Mandarin corresponds to level or平声 in Sino-Vietnamese vocabulary.

🇯🇵

Kanji (Japanese)

On: コウ (kō)

🇰🇷

Hanja (Korean)

교

Sound Shift Bridge: The Mandarin initial 'j-' often bridges to 'g-' or 'k-' sounds in cognates across Asian and Western languages.

7. Memory

Vivid Mnemonic Story

Imagine boiling animal hide and flesh (月) in a pot until it turns into thick, sticky liquid glue that stretches as you pull it.

Phonetic Family (形声字家族)

跤

jiāotrip / stumbleAdded foot radical (足) because you trip on your feet.

校

jiàoschoolAdded tree/wood radical (木) for wooden structures like desks and school buildings.

Lookalikes & Traps (形近字)

较(jiào)

Has the vehicle/cart radical (车) instead of flesh (月), meaning 'relatively' or 'compare'.

8. Mastery

Active Recall Challenge

修鞋需要用到强力[___]。

Clue: jiāo shuǐ

Common Learner Pitfall

Confusing the left component with the moon radical (月 meaning moon), whereas here it represents organic matter or flesh.

Memory Prompts

Recognition: What does the character 胶 mean and how is it pronounced?

Production: How do you write the character for 'glue' (jiāo) featuring the flesh/substance radical?

胶jiāoglue

Speed:

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