(jiè): world, boundary

(jiè) is a Chinese character meaning “world, boundary.” Classified as HSK Level 3 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of (semantic) and (phonetic). It ranks #288 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Etymologically derived, farm. Its radical form (field) appears in many related characters such as (diàn, lightning), (nán, male), (yóu, to follow).

Native pronunciation

Definitions

  1. world, boundary

Etymology & Origin

pictophoneticfarm

Decomposition: ⿱田介 (layout: top-bottom)

Stroke Order

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9

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
nounshì jièworld3
nounwài jièthe outside world6

Common Compounds

WordPinyinMeaning
quán shì jièworldwide
biān jièboundary
jiè xiànboundary
yuè jièto cross a border
jìng jièboundary
shì jiè jíworld-class
shì jiè bēiWorld Cup
xīn wén jièthe press
线jiè xiànlimits
yǎn jiè(lit. and fig.) field of vision
guó jiènational boundary
zhèng jièpolitical and government circles
chū jièto cross a border
jiāo jiècommon boundary
shāng jièbusiness world
100
Total compounds
16
As first character
71
As last character
13
As middle character

appears in 100 compound words: 16 as the first character, 71 as the last, and 13 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.

shì
0.8282,050,223 co-occurrences
bēi
0.54156,976 co-occurrences
biān
0.51691,020 co-occurrences
0.50252,758 co-occurrences
0.475156,276 co-occurrences
jǐn
0.42517,040 co-occurrences
xún
0.42344,622 co-occurrences
jiāo
0.410114,096 co-occurrences
0.38433,960 co-occurrences
kuà
0.38318,702 co-occurrences

Idioms & Chengyu (11)

bēi cǎn shì jièHSK 7+

Les Misérables (1862) by Victor Hugo 維克多·雨果|维克多·雨果[Wei2 ke4 duo1 · Yu3 guo3]

phrase
chǔhéhànjièHSK 3+

the boundary between the spheres of influence of two parties at war; the separation line between two sides

phrase
dàqiānshìjièHSK 3+

trichiliocosm (billion-fold universe); the boundless universe

noun
Dì-èr ShìjièHSK 3+

Second World

Dì-sān ShìjièHSK 3+

Third World

Dì-yī ShìjièHSK 3+

First World

gèjiè rénshìHSK 4+

people from all walks of life

noun
shìjiè jìlùHSK 5+

world record

noun
shìjiè mòrìHSK 3+

end of the world; apocalypse

noun
shìjiè wūjǐHSK 7+

the Roof of the World

Wǒ de ShìjièHSK 3+

Minecraft (a sandbox video game)

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

这个领域的技术发展很快,需要不断学习新知识。

Zhè gè lǐngyù de jìshù fāzhǎn hěn kuài, xūyào bùduàn xuéxí xīn zhīshi.

Technology in this field is developing rapidly; continuous learning of new knowledge is needed.

東方日報Feb 2026

【东方日报世视线】美国若击败伊朗 战火或延至台海

dōng fāng rì bào shì jiè shì xiàn měi guó ruò jī bài yī lǎng zhàn huǒ huò yán zhì tái hǎi

If the United States defeats Iran, the war may extend to the Taiwan Strait

東方日報Feb 2026

视线:美国若击败伊朗 战火或延至台海

shì jiè shì xiàn : měi guó ruò jī bài yī lǎng zhàn huǒ huò yán zhì tái hǎi

World Perspective: If the United States defeats Iran, the war may extend to the Taiwan Strait

Yahoo FinanceFeb 2026

倡上调基本免税额一成 预算案料难大派糖 ...

yè jiè chàng shàng diào jī běn miǎn shuì é yī chéng yù suàn àn liào nán dà pài táng . . .

The industry advocates raising the basic tax exemption by 10%, and the budget is difficult to distribute sugar...

百度新闻Feb 2026

2026年世知识产权报告:创新传播速度达历史新高

nián shì jiè zhī shí chǎn quán bào gào chuàng xīn chuán bō sù dù dá lì shǐ xīn gāo

2026 World Intellectual Property Report: Innovation Dissemination Reaches Historic High

百度新闻Feb 2026

3000株蝴蝶兰凑在一起干什么?世花卉大观园新春..

zhū 蝴 蝶 lán còu zài yī qǐ gān shén má ? shì jiè huā huì dà guàn yuán xīn chūn . .

What's the point of gathering 3,000 Phalaenopsis orchids together? World Floral Expo Spring Festival...

Tatoeba

这个世是灿烂的吗?

Zhège shìjiè shì cànlàn de ma?

Is it splendid, this world?

Tatoeba

就是一个疯子的囚笼。

Shìjiè jiùshì yī gè fēngzi de qiú lóng.

The world is a den of crazies.

Tatoeba

在我看来,澳洲是世上最好的国家之一。

Zàiwǒkànlái, àozhōu shì shìjiè shàng zuì hǎo de guójiā zhīyī.

In my opinion, Australia is one of the best countries in the world.

Tatoeba

伦敦是全世最大的城市之一。

Lúndūn shì quánshìjiè zuì dà de chéngshì zhīyī.

London is among the world's largest cities.

Character Family

Homophones — Characters pronounced jiè

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 界 (jiè) mean in Chinese?
界 (jiè) primarily means "world, boundary." It is classified as HSK Level 3, making it a beginner-level character. It ranks #288 in character frequency.
What's the difference between 界 and 价?
界 (jiè) and 价 (jià) are often confused. confusable. The key distinguishing feature: 田 vs 亻 (same 介 component).
How many strokes does 界 have?
界 is written with 9 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 界?
The radical associated with 界 is 田 (field). This radical appears in many characters related to field.
What are the components of 界?
界 is composed of: 田 (semantic), 介 (phonetic). Its IDS decomposition is ⿱田介 with a top-bottom layout. Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.
What are common words containing 界?
Common words with 界 include: 世界 (shì jiè, "world"); 全世界 (quán shì jiè, "worldwide"); 外界 (wài jiè, "the outside world"); 边界 (biān jiè, "boundary"); 界限 (jiè xiàn, "boundary"). There are over 100 compound words containing this character.
What characters sound the same as 界 (jiè)?
Several characters share the pronunciation jiè: 阶 (rank or step), 接 (to receive, to connect), 街 (street), 节 (festival, section), and 4 more. Context and tones help distinguish between them in speech and writing.
Is 界 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Yes, 界 is written the same way in both simplified and traditional Chinese.

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.