(jiàn): to practice, to trample

(jiàn) is a Chinese character meaning “to practice, to trample.” Classified as HSK Level 5 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of (semantic) and (phonetic). It ranks #1568 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Etymologically derived, foot. Its radical form (foot) appears in many related characters such as (pǎo, to run), (gēn, follow, heel), (, road).

Native pronunciation

Definitions

  1. to practice, to trample

Etymology & Origin

pictophoneticfoot

Decomposition: ⿰足戋 (layout: left-right)

Stroke Order

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12

Practice writing with real-time feedback — trace each stroke in the correct order and build muscle memory in the HanziFeed app.

Words & Compounds

HSK Vocabulary with

WordPinyinMeaningHSK
verbshí jiànpractice5

Common Compounds

WordPinyinMeaning
jiàn tàto trample
zuò jiànto ill-use
shí jiàn shì jiǎn yàn zhēn lǐ de wéi yī biāo zhǔnActual practice is the sole criterion for judging truth (item from Deng Xiaoping theory, from 1978)
jiàn xíngto carry out
jiàn yuēto keep a promise
yuè wáng gōu jiànKing Gou Jian of Yue (c. 470 BC), sometimes considered one of the Five Hegemons 春秋五霸
zāo jianto waste
gōu jiànKing Gou Jian of Yue (c. 470 BC), sometimes considered one of the Five Hegemons 春秋五霸
lǚ jiànto carry out (a task)
10
Total compounds
30
As first character
60
As last character
10
As middle character

appears in 10 compound words: 30 as the first character, 60 as the last, and 10 in a middle position. Compound statistics computed from SUBTLEX-CH and HSK 3.0 vocabulary data.

Strongest Collocations

Characters that most frequently co-occur with in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.

shí
0.67550,861 co-occurrences
0.5462,778 co-occurrences
gōu
0.5161,626 co-occurrences
lùn
0.4354,013 co-occurrences
yàn
0.3991,566 co-occurrences
zhū
0.391888 co-occurrences
gōng
0.380120 co-occurrences
chuáng
0.377666 co-occurrences
jià
0.36972 co-occurrences
0.3645,274 co-occurrences

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

我们要行承诺,说到就要做到。

Wǒmen yào jiànxíng chéngnuò, shuō dào jiù yào zuò dào.

We must fulfill our promises; if we say it, we must do it.

中国新闻网_梳理天下新闻Feb 2026

“融解决”赋能丝路法治新实 西安涉外审判体系持续升级

róng jiě jué fù néng sī lù fǎ zhì xīn shí jiàn xī ān shè wài shěn pàn tǐ xì chí xù shēng jí

"Integrated solution" empowers the new practice of the rule of law on the Silk Road Xi'an's foreign-related trial system continues to upgrade

中国新闻网_梳理天下新闻Feb 2026

以优良作风奋进新征程——“树立和行正确政绩观”系列评

yǐ yōu liáng zuò fēng fèn jìn xīn zhēng chéng — — shù lì hé jiàn háng zhèng què zhèng jì guàn xì liè píng

Forge ahead on a new journey with a good style - a series of comments on "Establishing and Practicing a Correct View of Political Performance"

UdnnewsindexFeb 2026

...+多元评量缩短学用落差 北科大师获教学实绩优

. . . duō yuán píng liàng suō duǎn xué yòng luò chā běi kē dà shī huò jiào xué shí jiàn jì yōu

...+ Multiple assessments shorten the gap between learning and application Beijing University of Science and Technology has achieved excellent teaching practice performance

中国军网Feb 2026

长城论坛丨坚持实观点群众观点历史观点

cháng chéng lùn tán 丨 jiān chí shí jiàn guàn diǎn qún zhòng guàn diǎn lì shǐ guàn diǎn

Great Wall Forum丨Adhere to practical views, mass views, historical views

中国军网Feb 2026

特稿丨厘清建设军事理论内容体系的实路径

tè gǎo 丨 lí qīng jiàn shè jūn shì lǐ lùn nèi róng tǐ xì de shí jiàn lù jìng

Special Feature丨Clarifying the Practical Pathways for Building a Military Theory Content System

Tatoeba

反叛者踏敌人的旗帜,以示挑衅。

Fǎnpàn zhě jiàntà dírén de qízhì, yǐ shì tiǎoxìn.

Rebels stomped on the enemy’s flags as a sign of defiance.

Tatoeba

理论必须与实相随。

Lǐlùn bìxū yǔ shíjiàn xiāng suí.

A theory must be followed by practice.

Tatoeba

把想法付诸实是困难的。

Bǎ xiǎngfǎ fùzhū shíjiàn shì kùnnan de.

Putting ideas into practice is difficult.

Tatoeba

公园的告示牌上写着「请勿踏草地」。

Gōngyuán de gàoshìpái shàng xiě zhe "qǐng wù jiàntà cǎodì."

The park sign says "Please keep off the grass."

Character Family

Homophones — Characters pronounced jiàn

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 践 (jiàn) mean in Chinese?
践 (jiàn) primarily means "to practice, to trample." It is classified as HSK Level 5, making it an advanced character. It ranks #1568 in character frequency.
What's the difference between 践 and 浅?
践 (jiàn) and 浅 (qiǎn) are often confused. confusable. The key distinguishing feature: 足 vs 氵 (same 戋 component).
How many strokes does 践 have?
践 is written with 12 strokes. The correct stroke order matters for recognition and handwriting speed — practice with the animated guide above to build proper technique.
What is the radical of 践?
The radical associated with 践 is 足 (foot). This radical appears in many characters related to foot.
What are the components of 践?
践 is composed of: 足 (semantic), 戋 (phonetic). Its IDS decomposition is ⿰足戋 with a left-right layout. Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.
What are common words containing 践?
Common words with 践 include: 实践 (shí jiàn, "practice"); 践踏 (jiàn tà, "to trample"); 作践 (zuò jiàn, "to ill-use"); 实践是检验真理的唯一标准 (shí jiàn shì jiǎn yàn zhēn lǐ de wéi yī biāo zhǔn, "Actual practice is the sole criterion for judging truth (item from Deng Xiaoping theory, from 1978)"); 践行 (jiàn xíng, "to carry out"). There are over 10 compound words containing this character.
What characters sound the same as 践 (jiàn)?
Several characters share the pronunciation jiàn: 坚 (strong), 间 (room, between), 减 (to lower), 检 (to check), and 2 more. Context and tones help distinguish between them in speech and writing.
Is 践 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
No. The simplified form is 践 and the traditional form is 踐.

Practice writing with real-time feedback

Trace stroke sequences, hear native pronunciation, and build lasting retention with spaced repetition in the HanziFeed app.

Character data sourced from Unihan (Unicode Consortium), SUBTLEX-CH frequency corpus (Cai & Brysbaert, 2010), and Make Me a Hanzi (stroke data). Collocation strength measured via NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information). Verified by the HanziFeed linguistics team.

HSK classification follows the HSK 3.0 Standard (Center for Language Education and Cooperation, CLEC, 2022 revision). Idiom data from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 3.0).

Data last verified: March 2026.