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较

較
jiào
adverb HSK 3 #5,037

Meanings

  1. 1 comparatively
  2. 2 rather
  3. 3 to compare

Examples

今天较冷。
Jīntiān jiào lěng.
It's rather cold today.
这个方法较好。
Zhège fāngfǎ jiào hǎo.
This method is comparatively better.
两者难以比较。
Liǎngzhě nányǐ bǐjiào.
The two are hard to compare.

Tips

usage
较 is more formal/written than 比较. In spoken Chinese, people prefer 比较. 较 alone feels literary.
grammar
较 + adjective = 'rather/comparatively' + adj. Similar to 比较 but shorter and more formal.

Components

radical
车 chē
vehicle; cart
Left indexing vehicle radical 车 — originally 较 referred to the crossbar on a chariot used to gauge measurements when comparing chariots side-by-side. The vehicle-radical preserves this measuring-by-chariot origin. Same family: 转 (turn), 输 (transport), 轮 (wheel).
phonetic
交 jiāo
cross; exchange
Right component 交 (cross/exchange) — supplies the sound (jiāo → jiào, just a tone shift) AND adds semantic flavour: comparison is a kind of crossing or exchanging of measurements. 交 itself shows a person with crossed legs. Same phonetic: 校 (school/check), 效 (effect), 郊 (suburb).

Stroke Order

较 jiào