跳 (tiào) · to jump; to hop; to leap

Meanings

1 to jump; to hop; to leap
2 to bounce; to skip
3 to beat (of heart)

Characters

跳

tiào

to jump; to leap

Contains the foot radical 足, indicating a physical action done with the feet.

Examples

HSK 2

他跳了起来。

Tā tiào le qǐlái.

He jumped up.

HSK 2

小孩在跳。

Xiǎohái zài tiào.

The child is jumping.

HSK 4

我的心跳得很快。

Wǒ de xīntiào de hěnkuài.

My heart is beating fast.

Tips

usage

跳 combines with many words: 跳舞 (dance), 跳绳 (jump rope), 跳远 (long jump), 跳高 (high jump), 心跳 (heartbeat).

Components

radical

足 zú

foot (left-side radical)

Left foot radical (Kangxi #157) - the seven-stroke pictograph of a leg-and-foot in compressed left-side form (the bottom 止 'foot' is squashed). Anchors 跳 in the moving-on-feet family alongside 跑 (run), 踢 (kick), 踩 (step on), 跌 (stumble), 蹲 (squat), 跨 (stride). Tells the reader: this character names something the foot does - here, leaving the ground.

phonetic

兆 zhào

omen; trillion (phonetic)

Right phonetic 兆 - supplies the sound (zhào drifted to tiào, regular palatalisation). Originally a pictograph of cracks splitting on a heated turtle plastron during divination - hence both 'omen' and 'trillion' (many cracks). Faintly semantic: cracks splitting outward mirror feet leaving the ground in a leap. Family 桃, 逃, 挑, 眺 - 逃/跳 are closest siblings.