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

小狗咬了我一口。

Xiǎogǒu yǎo le wǒ yì kǒu.

The puppy bit me.

蚊子咬了我好几个包。

Wénzi yǎo le wǒ hǎojǐ gè bāo.

Mosquitoes bit me several times (left bumps).

咬紧牙关坚持下去。

Yǎojǐnyáguān jiānchí xiàqù.

Grit your teeth and keep going.

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.