京 (jīng): capital city of a country, big, algebraic term for a large number (old), artificial mound (old)

京 (jīng) is a Chinese character meaning “capital city of a country.” Classified as HSK Level 4 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of 亠 (structural), 口 (structural) and 小 (structural). It ranks #566 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Etymologically pictographic, 京 a capital building on a hill. Its radical form 亠 (lid) appears in many related characters such as 交 (jiāo, to hand over), 亮 (liàng, bright), 产 (chǎn, to give birth).

Spoken pronunciation

Definitions

  1. capital city of a country
  2. big
  3. algebraic term for a large number (old)
  4. artificial mound (old)

Etymology & Origin

京

pictographicA capital building on a hill

Decomposition: ⿳亠口小 (layout: top-middle-bottom)

Stroke Order

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8

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

Words & Compounds

HSK Vocabulary with 京

WordPinyinMeaningHSK
京剧nounjīng jùBeijing opera4

Common Compounds

WordPinyinMeaning
东京proper-noundōng jīngTokyo, capital of Japan
北京proper-nounběi jīngBeijing municipality, capital of the People's Republic of China (short name 京)
南京proper-nounnán jīngNanjing, capital of the Ming dynasty (1368–1421) and of the Republic of China (1927–1937 an...
京都nounjīng dūcapital (of a country)
维京人nounwéi jīng rénViking
东京湾proper-noundōng jīng wānTokyo Bay
京城nounjīng chéngcapital of a country
南京市nán jīng shìNanjing, sub-provincial city and capital of Jiangsu Province 江蘇省|江苏省
普京proper-nounpǔ jīngVladimir Putin (1952–), Russian president
南京大屠杀proper-nounnán jīng dà tú shāthe Nanjing Massacre (1937-38)
南京理工大学nán jīng lǐ gōng dà xuéNanjing University of Science and Technology
北京理工大学běi jīng lǐ gōng dà xuéBeijing Institute of Technology
东京大学dōng jīng dà xuéTokyo University, Japan
东京帝国大学dōng jīng dì guó dà xuéTokyo Imperial University (renamed Tokyo University after 1945)
北京工业大学běi jīng gōng yè dà xuéBeijing University of Technology
100
Total compounds
36
As first character
15
As last character
49
As middle character

京 appears in 100 compound words: 36 as the first character, 15 as the last, and 49 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 京 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.

北běi
0.658313,512 co-occurrences
都dōu
0.53697,952 co-occurrences
南nán
0.534127,540 co-occurrences
沪hù
0.4633,370 co-occurrences
兆zhào
0.4626,504 co-occurrences
市shì
0.45172,978 co-occurrences
雏chú
0.44812 co-occurrences
东dōng
0.41333,694 co-occurrences
铁tiě
0.41013,852 co-occurrences
赴fù
0.4075,316 co-occurrences

Idioms & Chengyu (5)

北京大学běi jīng dà xuéHSK 4+

Peking University

phrase
北京时间Běijīng ShíjiānHSK 4+

China Standard Time; CST

北京猿人Běijīng yuánrén

Peking Man (Homo erectus pekinensis)

noun
京杭运河Jīng-Háng YùnhéHSK 7+

synonym of 京杭大運河 /京杭大运河 (Jīng-Háng Dàyùnhé)

南京条约nán jīng tiáo yuēHSK 4+

Treaty of Nanjing (1842) that concluded the First Opium War between Qing China and Britain

phrase

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

北京是中国的首都,有着悠久的历史和文化。

Běijīng shì Zhōngguó de shǒudū, yǒuzhe yōujiǔ de lìshǐ hé wénhuà.

Beijing is the capital of China, with a long history and culture.

百度新闻Feb 2026

线下门店排长队 线上订单早高峰 京东七鲜春节双线共..

xiàn xià mén diàn pái cháng duì xiàn shàng dìng dān zǎo gāo fēng jīng dōng qī xiān chūn jié shuāng xiàn gòng . .

Long queues in offline stores, early peak of online orders, JD Qixian Spring Festival double line total:

百度新闻Feb 2026

一马当先南京年|站台上演“暖心接力”,南京人合力护....

yī mǎ dāng xiān nán jīng nián zhàn tái shǎng yǎn nuǎn xīn jiē lì , nán jīng rén gě lì hù . . . .

A horse is the first Nanjing years | platform staged "warm heart relay", Nanjing people join forces to protect ....

百度新闻Feb 2026

从“舞台秀”到“真干活”,北京卫视春晚机器人从“舞..

cóng wǔ tái xiù dào zhēn gān huó , běi jīng wèi shì chūn wǎn jī qì rén cóng wǔ . .

From "stage show" to "real work", Beijing TV Spring Festival Gala robot from "dance...

百度新闻Feb 2026

春节假期首日北京市属公园接待游客20.95万人次,..

chūn jié jiǎ qī shǒu rì běi jīng shì shǔ gōng yuán jiē dāi yóu kè . mò rén cì , . .

On the first day of the Spring Festival holiday, Beijing's municipal parks welcomed 209,500 visitors.

百度新闻Feb 2026

北京台春晚“演员”:身高95cm,体重20k...

běi jīng tái chūn wǎn yǎn yuán shēn gāo , tī chóng . . .

Beijing TV Spring Festival Gala "Performer": Height 95cm, Weight 20kg...

Tatoeba

你认为从这里去东京要花多久时间?

Nǐ rènwéi cóng zhèlǐ qù Dōngjīng yào huā duōjiǔ shíjiān?

How long do you think it takes to go from here to Tokyo?

Tatoeba

你上次去京都是什么时候?

Nǐ shàngcì qù Jīngdū shì shénme shíhou?

When did you visit Kyoto last?

Tatoeba

你在东京如何维持生计?

Nǐ zài Dōngjīng rúhé wéichí shēngjì?

How did you make a living in Tokyo?

Tatoeba

您参观过东京塔吗?

Nín cānguān guo Dōngjīngtǎ ma?

Did you visit the Tokyo Tower?

Character Family

Homophones — Characters pronounced jīng

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 京 (jīng) mean in Chinese?
京 (jīng) primarily means "capital city of a country." It is classified as HSK Level 4, making it an upper-intermediate character. It ranks #566 in character frequency.
What's the difference between 京 and 些?
京 (jīng) and 些 (xiē) are often confused. antonym. The key distinguishing feature: 京 (big) vs 些 (small).
How many strokes does 京 have?
京 is written with 8 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 京?
The radical associated with 京 is 亠 (lid). This radical appears in many characters related to lid.
What are the components of 京?
京 is composed of: 亠 (structural), 口 (structural), 小 (structural). Its IDS decomposition is ⿳亠口小 with a top-middle-bottom layout. Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.
What are common words containing 京?
Common words with 京 include: 东京 (dōng jīng, "Tokyo, capital of Japan"); 北京 (běi jīng, "Beijing municipality, capital of the People's Republic of China (short name 京)"); 南京 (nán jīng, "Nanjing, capital of the Ming dynasty (1368–1421) and of the Republic of China (1927–1937 an..."); 京都 (jīng dū, "capital (of a country)"); 维京人 (wéi jīng rén, "Viking"). There are over 100 compound words containing this character.
What characters sound the same as 京 (jīng)?
Several characters share the pronunciation jīng: 经 (pass through,经典), 精 (essence), 惊 (to startle), 警 (to alert), and 6 more. Context and tones help distinguish between them in speech and writing.
Is 京 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Yes, 京 is written the same way in both simplified and traditional Chinese.

Practice writing 京 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.