教 (jiāo) means "teach" with HSK 2 on the new exam.
Pronunciation
Meaning
Primary: teach
Etymology
Oracle-bone origin
教 is attested in oracle-bone script as a pictograph showing an adult with a stick (the 攴 element on the right) standing over a child (子) who is learning to count or arrange counting sticks (the 爻 element, showing crossed tallies, on the upper left). The whole composition depicts instruction through discipline and demonstration. It is one of the clearest scenes-of-everyday-life graphs in the oracle-bone corpus.
Form evolution
The three elements; 爻, 子, and 攴; stay distinct from oracle bone through seal script. In clerical script 攴 is regularised to 攵, and the left side compresses 爻 and 子 into a vertical stack that becomes 孝-like in appearance but is not historically 孝. The modern 楷书 form 教 keeps all three original components, which is why it has eleven strokes rather than the simpler shape you might expect.
How the meaning evolved
The original sense was concrete: to instruct a child, often with physical discipline. It broadened early to cover teaching in general, then to 'doctrine' or 'teaching' as a noun, and finally to 'religion' in compounds like 宗教 and 佛教. The causative reading jiào ('to cause someone to do X') is a Tang-era grammatical extension still active in modern 教我写字.
Cultural note
教 is one of the few common characters that preserves a full Shang-dynasty classroom scene in its structure. The classical saying 教不严, 师之惰 ('if teaching is not strict, it is the teacher's laziness') from 三字经 relies on the character's original sense of disciplined instruction. Note the two tones: jiāo for the verb 'to teach' and jiào for the noun 'teaching' or 'religion'.
Basic info
| Pinyin | jiāo |
| Meanings | teach |
| New HSK exam | Recognise at HSK 2 |
| Frequency | #328 most common |
Example sentences
Words containing 教
On the new HSK 2 exam
Studying for HSK 2? Keep 教 with the rest of your level.
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Frequently Asked Questions
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Reviewed by RJ Murray, Founder, HSK Lord.