巧 qiǎo skillful
skillful; ingenious; as it happens
How to remember 巧: 工 work + 丂 choke = skillful. At work, the new apprentice nearly chokes on his coffee as the old master carves a chair with hands so skillful.
Component breakdown
巧 = 工 work + 丂 choke
- 工 work
- 丂 choke
At work, the new apprentice nearly chokes on his coffee as the old master carves a chair with hands so skillful.
How it came to be
A carpenter's square, the work block, beside the choke block, a catch of breath. There is no old form. The square is the craft, the catch the difficulty: skill is getting past it.
How it is used
- Two ideas: cleverness/skill and coincidence. 巧妙 (qiǎomiào) ingenious, 技巧 (jìqiǎo) technique/knack.
- 巧合 (qiǎohé) coincidence; 恰巧 / 正巧 (qiàqiǎo / zhèngqiǎo) = "as it happens": 恰巧我也在 (qiàqiǎo wǒ yě zài) as luck would have it I was there too.
- In 巧克力 (qiǎokèlì, chocolate) it's just a transliteration syllable with no meaning.
Characters built with 巧
Words with 巧
Example sentences
- 他的嘴上和脸上都沾满了巧克力。 Tā de zuǐshàng hé liǎnshàng dōu zhānmǎn le qiǎokèlì.His lips and face are covered with chocolate.