跳 (tiào) - Meaning, Stroke Order & Audio

跳

tiào[tiao4]Tone 4

to jump

HSK 3

Guru Deep Dive

English · to jump

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Topology:Left-right

Strokes:13

Writing Balance Rule: The left side (foot radical) is narrower and compressed, while the right side is wider and carries the main structural weight.

1. Meaning

to jump, leap, or skip

to hopto bounceto palpitate (of the heart)

VerbNeutral#movement#body action#physiology

Sample Usage

不要跳！
bù yào tiào!
Don't jump!
我的心跳得很厉害。
wǒ de xīn tiào de hěn lìhài.
My heart is beating very hard/fast.

2. Sound

/[tʰi̯ɑʊ̯⁵¹]/Tone: 51

跳

tiàotiao4

`(51)

=tiào

Initial Consonant

Type: Aspirated Alveolar

Sounds like: t as in tea

Aspirated

Airflow Tactile Test: Explosive puff of breath! Tissue held before mouth MUST flutter.

Tongue & Mouth Position: Tongue tip touches the alveolar ridge behind upper front teeth, releasing a burst of air.

Final Rhyme

iao

Vowel Group: -a vowel group

Sounds like: -iao rhymes with ee-ow

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

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

Tone

T4 (51)

5 → 1 (51)

4th Tone (High-Falling)

Tone Pitch & Cadence: Tone 4 starts high and plunges sharply down, just like saying 'No!' in English when refusing something firmly.

👂

Listening trap: Do not confuse Tone 4 (tiào - falling) with Tone 1 (tiāo - high level) or Tone 2 (tiáo - rising).

👋

Physical Tone Gesture: Tone 4 starts high and chops straight down like a karate chop, mirroring an authoritative command.

3. Writing

Topology: Left-right · Strokes: 13 strokes

Writing Balance Rule: The left side (foot radical) is narrower and compressed, while the right side is wider and carries the main structural weight.

4. Components

Radical 足 · Foot Radical (Foot, leg, or foot-related action)

Semantic Clue (形旁): 足 (Indicates actions performed with the foot or legs)

Phonetic Clue (声旁): 兆 (original sound: tiào / zhào)

A foot (足) on the left paired with a sign or omen (兆) on the right. When a propitious sign (兆) appears, your foot (足) jumps for joy!

足 Foot / leg semantic component
兆 Sign / phonetic component

Phonetic Family (形声字家族)

15· Phonetic Root: 兆 (zhào)

5. History

Liushu category: Phono-semantic (形声)

Origin: Combined from 足 (foot) indicating physical motion and 兆 (zhao) providing the pronunciation. Originally depicted leg movements associated with jumping and leaping.

Semantic Evolution: From physical leaping and dancing to general jumping, skipping, bouncing, and metaphorical leaping such as heart palpitations.

Ancient dances often involved ritual jumping and stamping of the feet, linking the foot radical directly to expressive body motion.

6. Sinosphere

🇯🇵

Kanji (Japanese)

On: チョウ / Kun: はね.る

7. Memory

Vivid Mnemonic Story

Imagine seeing a brilliant omen or flash (兆) in the sky. Your foot (足) instantly reacts, causing you to JUMP (tiào) high into the air with excitement!

Phonetic Family (形声字家族)

逃

táoto escape, to fleeUses the walking/movement radical (辶) instead of foot (足).

桃

táopeachUses the tree radical (木) instead of foot (足).

眺

tiàoto gaze into the distanceUses the eye radical (目) instead of foot (足).

Lookalikes & Traps (形近字)

挑(tiāo)

Has the hand radical (扌) on the left instead of foot (足), meaning 'to choose' or 'to carry on a shoulder pole'.

逃(táo)

Has the movement radical (辶) meaning to escape, whereas 跳 uses foot (足) for jumping.

8. Mastery

Active Recall Challenge

孩子们在公园里高兴地跳来[___]。

Clue: qù

Common Learner Pitfall

Confusing the left radical 足 with other radicals like 木 or 扌, leading to incorrect characters like 桃 or 挑.

Memory Prompts

Recognition: When you see the character 跳 with the foot radical and phonetic 兆, what does it mean and how is it pronounced?

Production: How do you write the Chinese character for 'to jump' (tiào) and what are its two main components?

跳tiàoto jump

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