How to write 教 (jiào, “to teach”)

教, an HSK 2 character, is read jiào for “to teach” and “a religion”, and also jiāo (“to teach”). It is HSK 2 in the 2025 syllabus, up from level 1 in the 2021 standard. As a left-right character it splits into 孝 (“filial piety or obedience”), strokes 1–7; 攵 (“strike”, the radical), strokes 8–11, written the left part first. On its own it is an HSK 2 word; it also forms 教室 (“classroom”), 教学 (“teaching”) and 教师 (“teacher”). Japanese reads it kyou, “teach”, as a JLPT N4 kanji.

Pinyin

jiào, jiāo

Strokes

11

HSK

2

Radical

攵 (“strike”)