敲 (qiāo): to knock; to tap; to strike

Meanings

1 to knock; to tap; to strike
2 to extort (colloquial)

Characters

敲

qiāo

to knock; to tap; to strike

Examples

有人在敲门。

Yǒurén zài qiāomén.

Someone is knocking on the door.

他敲了敲桌子。

Tā qiāo le qiāo zhuōzi.

He tapped on the table.

敲三下门就开。

Qiāo sān xià mén jiù kāi.

Knock three times and the door will open.

程序员每天都在敲代码。

Chéngxùyuán měitiān dōu zài qiāodàimǎ.

Programmers type code every day.

Tips

usage

敲代码 (qiāo dàimǎ) = to type/write code — very common Chinese programmer slang, literally 'knocking out code.' Also: 敲键盘 (qiāo jiànpán) = to type on a keyboard.

usage

敲竹杠 (qiāo zhúgàng) = to rip off / to extort — an idiom for overcharging someone.

Components

radical

攴 pū

to strike; tap

Right strike radical (Kangxi #66) — the indexing radical, depicting a hand holding a stick raised to strike. Anchors the meaning: 敲 is to knock, rap, tap (敲门 knock on the door, 敲打 to beat). The variant 攵 (4 dots truncated) appears in 教, 改, 政; 攴 itself is a less common full form.

phonetic

高 gāo

tall; high

Left phonetic 高 (gāo) — supplies the sound, shifting to qiāo through the velar series. Standalone 高 means 'tall, high' and pictographically depicts a tall watchtower. Same phonetic in 稿 (gǎo manuscript), 搞 (gǎo do/handle), 蒿 (hāo wormwood). Recognising 高 on the left cues the gāo/qiāo cluster.