桥 (qiáo) · bridge

Measure Word

一座桥 zuò

Meanings

1 bridge

Characters

桥

qiáo

bridge

Examples

HSK 2

我们从桥上走过去。

Wǒmen cóng qiáoshàng zǒuguò qù.

Let's walk across the bridge.

HSK 4

河上有一座桥。

Hé shàng yǒu yī zuò qiáo.

There's a bridge over the river.

HSK 5

这座古桥有五百年历史。

Zhè zuò gǔ qiáo yǒu wǔbǎi nián lìshǐ.

This ancient bridge is 500 years old.

Tips

culture

Famous Chinese bridges include 赵州桥 (Zhàozhōu Qiáo), a stone arch bridge built around 605 AD, one of the oldest standing bridges in the world.

Components

radical

木 mù

tree; wood

Left tree radical - indexing radical for 桥. Bridges in ancient China were predominantly wooden plank-and-beam constructions, so the 木 classification is literal. Same wood-radical family as 桌 (table), 椅 (chair), 板 (plank), 林 (forest). Marks 桥 as something built from timber.

phonetic

乔 qiáo

tall; lofty

Right phonetic 乔 - supplies the sound exactly (qiáo, no drift) and adds a faint semantic flavor: 乔 originally meant 'tall, towering,' fitting for an arched bridge spanning a river. Simplified from the traditional 喬; shared with 侨 (overseas Chinese - those who have gone afar/high) and 骄 (proud). Same right side in 矫, 娇.