Pinyin Syllable
Chinese characters pronounced qiao
Learn common Chinese characters pronounced qiao, including 巧 qiǎo, 桥 qiáo, 悄 qiǎo / qiāo, 乔 qiáo, 瞧 qiáo. Compare tones, meanings, traditional forms, words…
How to Pronounce This Syllable
qiao raises the front of the tongue for q, then opens into iao; keep it light and joined, with the tone over the whole syllable.
Initial q
Like j, but aspirated.
Final iao
Settle the final iao into a steady mouth shape first, then lay the tone on top.
Study Tip
Start with the most common characters (巧 qiǎo, 桥 qiáo, 悄 qiǎo / qiāo, 乔 qiáo, 瞧 qiáo) and lock in their tones. 9 common characters share the sound qiao, so lean on words to tell the rest apart.
Learn by Tone
qiao turns up here with 4 different tones; a change of tone usually means a different character, so the groups below are split by tone.
1st tone
Taking the 1st tone here: 敲 (1 in total). Lock this tone in your ear before the meaning.
2nd tone
Taking the 2nd tone here: 桥, 乔, 瞧… (5 in total). Lock this tone in your ear before the meaning.
3rd tone
Taking the 3rd tone here: 巧, 悄 (2 in total). Lock this tone in your ear before the meaning.
4th tone
Taking the 4th tone here: 雀 (1 in total). Lock this tone in your ear before the meaning.
Common Words With This Sound
Seeing qiao inside whole words makes it clear which character is meant — here are common ones.
Characters
9 common characters in this group.