咬 (yǎo): to bite; to nip

Meanings

1 to bite; to nip

Characters

咬

yǎo

to bite

口 (mouth) + 交 (cross): teeth crossing over something.

Examples

HSK 2

小狗咬了我一口。

Xiǎogǒu yǎo le wǒ yì kǒu.

The puppy bit me.

HSK 4

咬紧牙关坚持下去。

Yǎojǐnyáguān jiānchí xiàqù.

Grit your teeth and keep going.

HSK 7-9

蚊子咬了我好几个包。

Wénzi yǎo le wǒ hǎojǐ gè bāo.

Mosquitoes bit me several times (left bumps).

Tips

usage

咬紧牙关 ("bite down on your teeth") is a common idiom meaning to grit your teeth and persevere through difficulty.

Components

radical

口 kǒu

mouth

Left mouth radical - indexing radical for 咬. Anchors 咬 in the mouth-action family alongside 吃 (eat), 喝 (drink), 吐 (spit), 吻 (kiss). Biting is a specific use of the mouth; 口 here marks both the literal organ and the kind of action.

phonetic

交 jiāo

cross; intersect

Right phonetic 交 - supplies the sound (jiāo to yǎo, with palatal shift, same family as 校, 较, 狡). Originally pictured a person with crossed legs, hence "crossing." Adds a vivid semantic echo: biting is what teeth do when they cross - top row meeting bottom row at the bite.