进 (jìn): to enter

进 (jìn) is a Chinese character meaning “to enter.” Classified as HSK Level 2 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of 辶 (semantic) and 井 (phonetic). It ranks #81 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Etymologically derived, 进 walk. Its radical form 辶 (walk) appears in many related characters such as 边 (biān, side), 过 (guò, to pass, past), 还 (hái, still, return).

Spoken pronunciation

Definitions

  1. to enter

Etymology & Origin

进

pictophoneticwalk

Decomposition: ⿺辶井 (layout: surround-from-lower-left)

Stroke Order

1
2
3
4
5
6
7

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

Words & Compounds

HSK Vocabulary with 进

WordPinyinMeaningHSK
进来verbjìn láito come in2
进去verbjìn qùto go in2
进行verbjìn xíng(of a process etc) to proceed4
进入verbjìn rùto enter4
进展verbjìn zhǎnto make headway6
前进verbqián jìnto go forward5
进步verb/adjectivejìn bùprogress5
进一步adverbjìn yī bùto go a step further5
先进adjective/nounxiān jìnsophisticated5
进化verbjìn huàto evolve (biologically, technologically etc)6
改进verbgǎi jìnto improve5
推进verbtuī jìnto impel5
进度nounjìn dùrate of progress6
进口verbjìn kǒuto import5
促进verbcù jìnto promote (an idea or cause)5
引进verbyǐn jìnto recommend5
增进verbzēng jìnto promote5
进而conjunctionjìn érand then6
上进verbshàng jìnto make progress6

Common Compounds

WordPinyinMeaning
进攻verbjìn gōngto attack
闯进chuǎng jìnto burst in
进出verbjìn chūto enter and exit
激进adjectivejī jìnradical
跟进verbgēn jìnto follow
进程nounjìn chéngcourse of events
进城verbjìn chéngto go to town
混进hùn jìnto infiltrate
进食verbjìn shíto eat
行进xíng jìnto advance
进场verbjìn chǎngto enter the venue
进军verbjìn jūn(military) to march
推进器tuī jìn qìpropeller
进发verbjìn fā(of a group of people or a convoy of vehicles) to set off
105
Total compounds
58
As first character
39
As last character
3
As middle character

进 appears in 105 compound words: 58 as the first character, 39 as the last, and 3 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 进 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.

行xíng
0.625447,786 co-occurrences
喷pēn
0.57015,364 co-occurrences
攻gōng
0.51451,686 co-occurrences
步bù
0.49973,028 co-occurrences
促cù
0.48428,734 co-occurrences
推tuī
0.48045,518 co-occurrences
验yàn
0.47718,886 co-occurrences
入rù
0.470179,171 co-occurrences
气qì
0.44119,400 co-occurrences
了le
0.423111,008 co-occurrences

Idioms & Chengyu (17)

不知进退bùzhījìntuìHSK 5+

to have no sense of propriety; to not know where to stop

phrase
得寸进尺décùnjìnchǐHSK 6+

to be extremely greedy; give them an inch and they'll take a mile

phrase
高歌猛进gāogēměngjìnHSK 7+

to advance triumphantly

phrase
加官进爵jiāguānjìnjuéHSK 7+

to be promoted to a higher office or rank

phrase
加官进禄jiā guān jìn lù

promotion in official post and salary raise (idiom)

phrase
进身之阶jìn shēn zhī jiēHSK 5+

stepping-stone to greater power or higher rank

phrase
进退两难jìntuìliǎngnánHSK 5+

between a rock and a hard place; in a bind; in a pickle

phrase
进退失据jìntuìshījùHSK 5+

to be between a rock and a hard place

phrase
进退维谷jìntuìwéigǔHSK 7+

between a rock and a hard place

phrase
进退中绳jìn tuì zhōng shéngHSK 7+

to advance or retreat, each has its rules (idiom from Zhuangzi); many translations are possible

phrase
齐头并进qítóubìngjìnHSK 5+

to go on or advance simultaneously; to do two or more things at once

phrase
十六进制shí liù jìn zhìHSK 5+

hexadecimal

phrase

Showing 12 of 17 idioms containing 进.

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

请进,会议室已经准备好了。

Qǐng jìn, huìyìshì yǐjīng zhǔnbèi hǎo le.

Please come in; the meeting room is ready.

百度新闻Feb 2026

高标准高质量推进雄安新区建设现代化城市丨雄安新区新..

gāo biāo zhǔn gāo zhì liàng tuī jìn xióng ān xīn qū jiàn shè xiàn dài huà chéng shì 丨 xióng ān xīn qū xīn . .

Promote the construction of Xiong'an New Area into a modern city with high standards and high quality丨Xiong'an New Area New:

百度新闻Feb 2026

挺不住了?印度急切“从中国进口”

tǐng bù zhù le ? yìn dù jí qiē cóng zhōng guó jìn kǒu

Can't hold on? India is eager to "import from China"

百度新闻Feb 2026

春晚的另一场“巷战”:AI挤进春节档,不止为了发红..

chūn wǎn de lìng yī chǎng xiàng zhàn jǐ jìn chūn jié dǎng , bù zhǐ wéi le fā hóng . .

Another "Alley-oop" at the Spring Festival Gala: AI is squeezing into the Spring Festival slot, not just to send out red...

百度新闻Feb 2026

暖意融融 走进上海机场建设者小镇

nuǎn yì róng róng zǒu jìn shǎng hǎi jī chǎng jiàn shè zhě xiǎo zhèn

Warmth and Hospitality: A Visit to the Shanghai Airport Construction Workers' Village

Tatoeba

你的工作进行得怎么样?

Nǐ de gōngzuò jìnxíng de zěnmeyàng?

How is your work coming along?

Tatoeba

你的生意进展如何?

Nǐ de shēngyi jìnzhǎn rúhé?

How is your business going?

Tatoeba

你从哪里跑进来的?

Nǐ cóng nǎlǐ pǎo jìnlái de?

Where did you come in from?

Tatoeba

白痴,你脑子进水了?

Báichī, nǐ nǎozijìnshuǐ le?

Idiot... You got water in your brain or something?

Tatoeba

我现在进来方便么?

Wǒ xiànzài jìnlái fāngbiàn me?

Is it OK for me to come in now?

Character Family

Semantic Family — Characters sharing the 辶 (walk) component

Homophones — Characters pronounced jìn

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 进 (jìn) mean in Chinese?
进 (jìn) primarily means "to enter." It is classified as HSK Level 2, making it a beginner-level character. It ranks #81 in character frequency.
What's the difference between 进 and 讲?
进 (jìn) and 讲 (jiǎng) are often confused. confusable. The key distinguishing feature: 辶 vs 讠 (same 井 component).
How many strokes does 进 have?
进 is written with 7 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 进?
The radical associated with 进 is 辶 (walk). This radical appears in many characters related to walk.
What are the components of 进?
进 is composed of: 辶 (semantic), 井 (phonetic). Its IDS decomposition is ⿺辶井 with a surround-from-lower-left layout. Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.
What are common words containing 进?
Common words with 进 include: 进来 (jìn lái, "to come in"); 进去 (jìn qù, "to go in"); 进行 (jìn xíng, "(of a process etc) to proceed"); 进入 (jìn rù, "to enter"); 进展 (jìn zhǎn, "to make headway"). There are over 105 compound words containing this character.
What characters sound the same as 进 (jìn)?
Several characters share the pronunciation jìn: 今 (now), 金 (metal, gold), 近 (near), 尽 (to the greatest extent), and 4 more. Context and tones help distinguish between them in speech and writing.
Is 进 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
No. The simplified form is 进 and the traditional form is 進.

Practice writing 进 with real-time feedback

Trace stroke sequences, hear spoken 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.