TongTong
Sign in

交谈 (jiāo tán) — to converse, to chat, to talk (with each other)

Definition

交谈 (jiāotán) is a more formal, written alternative to 聊 — both mean 'to chat/ converse', but 交谈 implies a substantive, often face-to-face exchange rather than casual small talk.

verb
to converseto chatto talk (with each other)

Examples

  • 交谈。
    Tā men yòng yīng yǔ jiāo tán le bàn gè xiǎo shí.
    They chatted in English for half an hour.
  • 交谈。
    Liǎng wèi lǎo péng you zuò zài yì qǐ jiāo tán le hěn jiǔ.
    The two old friends sat together and talked for a long time.
  • ，交谈。
    Zài kā fēi tīng lǐ, rén men qīng shēng jiāo tán zhe.
    In the café, people were chatting quietly.

Origin

Compound word
构词法gòucífǎ
偏正piānzhèngModifier + head

The first part narrows down the second: it says what kind of thing the head is.

交jiāomutual
谈tántalk

交谈 uses 交 for mutual action with 谈 for talking, giving a conversation between people.

Characters in this word

A drawing of the thing itself, worn down over three thousand years into a few strokes.

交 originally drew a human with crossed legs. In the modern shape, the upper part resembles a standing person.

Open 交 →

Most characters — around four in five — are built this way: one part hints at the meaning, the other at the pronunciation.

This origin belongs to the traditional form 談; 谈 is its simplified writing.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
言言yánspeech
Sound part声符shēngfú
炎
炎yán談tán
The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

For 谈, the traditional form 談 pairs 言 (speech) with 炎 (yán) as the sound part.

Open 谈 →
Appears in
HSK 3.0 Level 6Communication & Speech5000 Most Frequent Chinese Words

Browse more HSK 6 words or search the full 43,000-word dictionary.