(jìn): near

(jìn) is a Chinese character meaning “near.” Classified as HSK Level 2 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of (semantic) and (phonetic). It ranks #374 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

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

Native pronunciation

Definitions

  1. near

Etymology & Origin

pictophoneticwalk

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

Stroke Order

1
2
3
4
5
6
7

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
nounzuì jìnrecently3
nounfù jìnnearby3
verbjiē jìnto approach5
verbkào jìnto be close to5
nounjìn láirecently6
adverbjiāng jìnalmost5
nounjìn qīnear in time5
verb/adjectivetiē jìnto press close to6
adjectivejìn shìshortsighted6
nounjìn rì(in) the past few days5
jìn nián láifor the past few years5
nounjìn dàithe not-very-distant past5

Common Compounds

WordPinyinMeaning
qīn jìnintimate
jìn huclose to
lín jìnto approach
zǒu jìnto approach
bī jìnto press on towards
xiāng jìnclose
jìn lùshortcut
jìn qīnclose relative
jìn kuàngrecent developments
lín jìnneighboring
xīn jìnnewly
jìn sìto approximate
jìn zhàorecent photo
còu jìnto approach
jìn hǎicoastal waters
100
Total compounds
55
As first character
36
As last character
9
As middle character

appears in 100 compound words: 55 as the first character, 36 as the last, and 9 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.

kěn
0.791672,804 co-occurrences
0.763705,911 co-occurrences
lín
0.654681,546 co-occurrences
xiǎo
0.599867,558 co-occurrences
kào
0.579137,178 co-occurrences
0.574965,010 co-occurrences
háng
0.554878,622 co-occurrences
lín
0.52445,306 co-occurrences
0.50029,358 co-occurrences
jiē
0.498285,642 co-occurrences

Idioms & Chengyu (10)

bùjìn-rénqíngHSK 2+

not amenable to reason; inconsiderate of human feelings; unkind; insensitive

phrase
duǎn shì jìn lìHSK 4+

to be focused on short-term gain

phrase
guì yuǎn jiàn jìnHSK 7+

to revere the past and despise the present (idiom)

phrase
jígōngjìnlìHSK 4+

to seek quick success and instant benefits

phrase
jiǎ xìng jìn shìHSK 4+

pseudomyopia

phrase
jìnshuǐlóutáiHSK 4+

to have a close relationship with someone or be in close proximity to something, which confers advantages

phrase
jìn zài yǎn qiánHSK 2+

right under one's nose; right in front of one's eyes; close at hand; imminent

phrase
jìn zhū jìn mòHSK 7+

one is judged by the company one keeps (idiom)

phrase
yán jìn zhǐ yuǎnHSK 7+

simple words with a profound meaning (idiom)

phrase
jìnzàizhǐchǐHSK 5+

very near in distance; at one's elbow

phrase

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

天气变冷了,大家要注意保暖。

Zuìjìn tiānqì biàn lěng le, dàjiā yào zhùyì bǎonuǎn.

The weather has turned cold recently; everyone should keep warm.

大紀元 | 大紀元新聞網Feb 2026

东南亚加里曼丹岛附发生7级地震

dōng nán yà jiā lǐ 曼 dān dǎo fù jìn fā shēng 7 jí dì zhèn

A magnitude 7 earthquake occurred near the island of Kalimantan in Southeast Asia

百度新闻Feb 2026

超标2000倍 日本石川县一处地下水检出高浓...

chāo biāo jìn bèi rì běn shí chuān xiàn yī chǔ dì xià shuǐ jiǎn chū gāo nóng . . .

Nearly 2,000 times over the limit High concentrations of groundwater have been detected at a site in Ishikawa Prefecture, Japan,...

百度新闻Feb 2026

英伟达美股盘前涨2%

yīng wěi dá měi gǔ pán qián zhǎng jìn

NVIDIA shares rise nearly 2% in premarket trading

百度新闻Feb 2026

菲律宾海警在我南沙群岛附海域扔下两个黑色桶状物,..

菲 lǜ bīn hǎi jǐng zài wǒ nán shā qún dǎo fù jìn hǎi yù rēng xià liǎng gě hēi sè tǒng zhuàng wù , . .

The Philippine Coast Guard dropped two black barrel-shaped objects in waters near our Spratly Islands...

百度新闻Feb 2026

抖音高管谈Seedance2.0:最团队投入最多..

dǒu yīn gāo guǎn tán . zuì jìn tuán duì tóu rù zuì duō . .

TikTok Executive on Seedance 2.0: The Team Has Been Investing the Most Recently...

Tatoeba

顺便说一句,你最见过他吗?

Shùnbiàn shuō yījù, nǐ zuìjìn jiàn guo tā ma?

By the way, have you seen him lately?

Tatoeba

的教堂在哪里?

Zuì jìn de jiàotáng zài nǎlǐ?

Where's the nearest church?

Tatoeba

你最有没有看电影?

Nǐ zuì jìn yǒuméiyǒu kàn diànyǐng?

Have you seen any movies lately?

Tatoeba

是不是有一间购物商场?

Fùjìn shìbùshì yǒu yī jiān gòuwù shāngchǎng?

Is there a mall near here?

Character Family

Homophones — Characters pronounced jìn

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 近 (jìn) mean in Chinese?
近 (jìn) primarily means "near." It is classified as HSK Level 2, making it a beginner-level character. It ranks #374 in character frequency.
What's the difference between 近 and 欣?
近 (jìn) and 欣 (xīn) are often confused. confusable. The key distinguishing feature: 辶 vs 欠 (same 斤 component).
How many strokes does 近 have?
近 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 近?
The radical associated with 近 is 辶 (walk). This radical appears in many characters related to walk.
What are the components of 近?
近 is composed of: 辶 (semantic), 斤 (phonetic). Its IDS decomposition is ⿺辶斤 with a surround-from-lower-left layout. Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.
What are common words containing 近?
Common words with 近 include: 最近 (zuì jìn, "recently"); 附近 (fù jìn, "nearby"); 接近 (jiē jìn, "to approach"); 靠近 (kào jìn, "to be close to"); 亲近 (qīn jìn, "intimate"). There are over 100 compound words containing this character.
What characters sound the same as 近 (jìn)?
Several characters share the pronunciation jìn: 巾 (towel), 今 (now), 斤 (catty), 金 (metal, gold), and 4 more. Context and tones help distinguish between them in speech and writing.
Is 近 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Yes, 近 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.