(jīn): to endure, to prohibit, to forbid

(jīn) is a Chinese character meaning “to endure.” Classified as HSK Level 4 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of (phonetic) and (semantic). It ranks #985 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Etymologically derived, altar. Its radical form (spirit) appears in many related characters such as (piào, ticket), (shì, (literary, or bound form) to look at), (shì, to show).

Native pronunciation

Definitions

  1. to endure
  2. to prohibit
  3. to forbid

Etymology & Origin

pictophoneticaltar

Decomposition: ⿱林示 (layout: top-bottom)

Stroke Order

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13

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
verbjìn zhǐto prohibit4
adverbbù jīncan't help (doing sth)6
verbyán jìnto strictly prohibit6

Common Compounds

WordPinyinMeaning
jiān jìnto imprison
qiú jìnto imprison
qíng bù zì jīn(idiom) cannot refrain from
xiāo jìnnight curfew
jìn lìngprohibition
jìn jìtaboo
guān jìn bìto put in detention (a soldier, a pupil)
jìn yùto suppress desire
jìn qūrestricted area
ruǎn jìnto place under house arrest
jìn gùto confine
jū jìnconstraint
jīn bu zhùcan't help it
shī jìn(urinary or fecal) incontinence
jìn jiǔprohibition
81
Total compounds
54
As first character
30
As last character
16
As middle character

appears in 81 compound words: 54 as the first character, 30 as the last, and 16 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.

zhǐ
0.726257,875 co-occurrences
qiú
0.67443,104 co-occurrences
0.61824,424 co-occurrences
0.51011,442 co-occurrences
lìng
0.50259,884 co-occurrences
jiān
0.49430,630 co-occurrences
xiāo
0.4935,352 co-occurrences
0.4369,024 co-occurrences
bèi
0.43593,924 co-occurrences
ruǎn
0.4337,038 co-occurrences

Idioms & Chengyu (10)

jìn yù zhǔ yìHSK 6+

asceticism

phrase
jìn zhǐ shǐ rùHSK 5+

Do not enter! (road sign)

phrase
lìngxíngjìnzhǐHSK 5+

to enforce total obedience to commands; to have all orders abode by

phrase
lǚjìnbùzhǐHSK 7+

rampant, despite repeated attempts at prohibition

phrase
qíngbùzìjīnHSK 4+

cannot hold back one's emotion; can't help

phrase
rěnjùnbùjīnHSK 7+

to fail to keep from laughing; to be unable to suppress a smile

phrase
xǐ bù zì jīnHSK 4+

unable to contain one's joy (idiom)

phrase

Showing 7 of 10 idioms containing .

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

这里止吸烟,请遵守规定。

Zhèlǐ jìnzhǐ xīyān, qǐng zūnshǒu guīdìng.

Smoking is prohibited here; please follow the regulations.

99 健康网Feb 2026

男生小便后甩一甩会不会导致尿失?盆底肌松弛者需谨慎吗

nán shēng xiǎo biàn hòu shuǎi yī shuǎi huì bù huì dǎo zhì niào shī jīn ? pén de jī sōng chí zhě xū jǐn shèn ma

Will a boy's throw after urinating cause urinary incontinence? Should people with loose pelvic floor muscles be cautious?

华尔街日报中Feb 2026

中国对多家日本公司实施出口

zhōng guó duì duō jiā rì běn gōng sī shí shī chū kǒu jīn lìng

China imposed an export ban on several Japanese companies

東方日報Feb 2026

【有片】“曼联JJ”浮夸金球 卡域克被起用?

yǒu piàn 曼 lián J J fú kuā jīn qiú kǎ yù kè bèi jīn qǐ yòng ?

"Manchester United JJ" exaggerated golden ball Carrick was banned?

百度新闻Feb 2026

一环内燃!云岩区春节期间烟花爆竹限放区域、时...

yī huán nèi jīn rán ! yún yán qū chūn jié qī jiān yān huā bào zhú jīn xiàn fàng qū yù , shí . . .

No combustion in the first ring! During the Spring Festival in Yunyan District, fireworks and firecrackers are prohibited and restricted, time...

百度新闻Feb 2026

宁远县城管局:放不松懈 守护平安祥和年

nìng yuǎn xiàn chéng guǎn jú jīn rán jīn fàng bù sōng xiè shǒu hù píng ān xiáng hé nián

Ningyuan County Urban Management Bureau: ban on burning and discharge of no slack guarding the peace and tranquility of the year

Tatoeba

汤姆讨厌在烟区吸烟的人。

Tāngmǔ tǎoyàn zài jìnyānqū xīyān de rén.

Tom doesn't like people who smoke in no smoking areas.

Tatoeba

德国将止雇主在脸书上偷窥。

Déguó jiāng jìnzhǐ gùzhǔ zài Liǎnshū shàng tōukuī.

Germany is to ban employers from snooping on Facebook.

Tatoeba

止斯库拉再与易迪尔见面。

Tā jìnzhǐ Sīkùlā zài yǔ Yìdí'ěr jiànmiàn.

He forbade Skura from ever seeing Yidir.

Tatoeba

她得知父亲突然离世,不心如刀割。

Tā dézhī fùqīn tūrán líshì, bù jìn xīnrúdāogē.

She was filled with deep grief to hear of her father's sudden death.

Character Family

Homophones — Characters pronounced jīn

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 禁 (jīn) mean in Chinese?
禁 (jīn) primarily means "to endure." It is classified as HSK Level 4, making it an upper-intermediate character. It ranks #985 in character frequency.
What's the difference between 禁 and 彬?
禁 (jīn) and 彬 (bīn) are often confused. confusable. The key distinguishing feature: 礻 vs 彡 (same 林 component).
How many strokes does 禁 have?
禁 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 禁?
The radical associated with 禁 is 礻 (spirit). This radical appears in many characters related to spirit.
What are the components of 禁?
禁 is composed of: 林 (phonetic), 示 (semantic). Its IDS decomposition is ⿱林示 with a top-bottom layout. Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.
What are common words containing 禁?
Common words with 禁 include: 禁止 (jìn zhǐ, "to prohibit"); 监禁 (jiān jìn, "to imprison"); 囚禁 (qiú jìn, "to imprison"); 情不自禁 (qíng bù zì jīn, "(idiom) cannot refrain from"); 宵禁 (xiāo jìn, "night curfew"). There are over 81 compound words containing this character.
What characters sound the same as 禁 (jīn)?
Several characters share the pronunciation jīn: 巾 (towel), 今 (now), 斤 (catty), 金 (metal, gold), and 3 more. Context and tones help distinguish between them in speech and writing.
Is 禁 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Yes, 禁 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.