(jīng): eyeball

(jīng) is a Chinese character meaning “eyeball.” Classified as HSK Level 2 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of (semantic) and (phonetic). It ranks #934 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Etymologically derived, eye. Its radical form (eye) appears in many related characters such as (kàn, to look, to see), (zhēn, really), (zhe, -ing, to wear).

Native pronunciation

Definitions

  1. eyeball

Etymology & Origin

pictophoneticeye

Decomposition: ⿰目青 (layout: left-right)

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
nounyǎn jingeye2

Common Compounds

WordPinyinMeaning
mù bù zhuǎn jīngunable to take one's eyes off (idiom)
huǒ yǎn jīn jīngpiercing eyes
huà lóng diǎn jīngto paint a dragon and dot in the eyes (idiom)
dìng jīngto stare at
bù zhǎng yǎn jingsee 沒長眼睛|没长眼睛[mei2 zhang3 yan3 jing5]
méi zhǎng yǎn jing(coll.) are you blind or something?
yǎn bù zhuàn jīngwith fixed attention (idiom)
diǎn jīng zhī bǐthe brush stroke that dots in the eyes (idiom)
diǎn jīngto add the finishing touch (abbr. for 畫龍點睛|画龙点睛[hua4 long2 dian3 jing1])
zhēng zhe yǎn jīng shuō xiā huà(idiom) to lie through one's teeth
gǔ yǎn jīngprotruding eyes
xī jīngeye-catching
cā liàng yǎn jīngto keep one's eyes open (idiom)
yǎn jing chī bīng qí lín(slang) (Tw) to be checking out the hotties
là yǎn jing(neologism c. 2016) (slang) unpleasant to look at
20
Total compounds
0
As first character
75
As last character
25
As middle character

appears in 20 compound words: 0 as the first character, 75 as the last, and 25 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.

yǎn
0.81397,555 co-occurrences
zhēng
0.573581 co-occurrences
zhǎ
0.500288 co-occurrences
0.48696 co-occurrences
xiā
0.481420 co-occurrences
dèng
0.462198 co-occurrences
0.414474 co-occurrences
zōng
0.414858 co-occurrences
dīng
0.413192 co-occurrences
0.41311,495 co-occurrences

Idioms & Chengyu (7)

bù zhǎng yǎn jingHSK 2+

see 沒長眼睛|没长眼睛[mei2 zhang3 yan3 jing5]

phrase
cā liàng yǎn jīngHSK 4+

to keep one's eyes open (idiom); to be on one's guard; to be clear-eyed

phrase
diǎnjīngzhībǐHSK 4+

the finishing touch to a painting; the crucial point that brings the subject to life

phrase
huàlóngdiǎnjīngHSK 5+

something one step away from perfection; to put on the finishing touches

phrase
huǒ yǎn jīn jīngHSK 4+

piercing eyes; discerning eyes

phrase
mù bù zhuǎn jīngHSK 4+

to gaze into each other's eyes; to not take their eyes off of each other

phrase
yǎn bù zhuàn jīngHSK 4+

with fixed attention (idiom)

phrase

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

他的眼很明亮,看起来很有精神。

Tā de yǎnjing hěn míngliàng, kàn qǐlái hěn yǒu jīngshén.

His eyes are very bright and look very energetic.

EttodayMar 2026

萧煌奇PO用餐照“吃鱼顾眼” 放火回1句!网惊:双倍地狱哏

xiāo huáng qí P O yòng cān zhào chī yú gù yǎn jīng fàng huǒ huí 1 jù ! wǎng jīng : shuāng bèi dì yù 哏

Xiao Huangqi posts a photo of himself eating, saying, "Eating fish is good for your eyes." Fang Huo replies with one line! Netizens are shocked: "Double the hellish joke!"

UdnnewsindexMar 2026

揉眼很危险!23岁女红痒忍不住 检查惊见变形...

róu yǎn jīng hěn wēi xiǎn ! 2 3 suì nǚ hóng yǎng rěn bù zhù jiǎn chá jīng jiàn biàn xíng . . .

Rubbing your eyes is dangerous! A 23-year-old woman couldn't resist the itch—and was shocked to discover a deformity during an examination...

Hk01.comMar 2026

...?名媛爱马仕收藏大公开 陈雪铃小房子太吸

. . . ? míng 媛 ài mǎ 仕 shōu zàng dà gōng kāi chén xuě líng xiǎo fáng zǐ tài xī jīng

...? Socialite's Hermès Collection Revealed: Chen Xueling's Mini House Steals the Show

UdnnewsindexMar 2026

...娟周续留统一狮应援 新成员培根搞笑反差吸

. . . 娟 zhōu xù liú tǒng yī shī yīng yuán xīn chéng yuán péi gēn gǎo xiào fǎn chā xī jīng

... Juan Zhou continues to stay in the United Lion to support the new member Bacon, the funny contrast is eye-catching

TvbsFeb 2026

...!10公尺高「瑪利歐主燈」聯名任天堂超吸

. . . ! gōng chǐ gāo 瑪 lì 歐 zhǔ 燈 聯 míng rèn tiān táng chāo xī jīng

...! A 10-meter-tall "Mario-themed main lantern" collaboration with Nintendo is a real eye-catcher.

Tatoeba

你的眼为什么那么大?

Nǐ de yǎnjing wèishénme nàme dà?

Why are your eyes so big?

Tatoeba

我知道眼为什么长在前面吗?

Wǒ zhīdào yǎnjing wèishénme cháng zài qiánmiàn ma?

Do I know why eyes are on the front?

Tatoeba

独眼巨人有多少个眼

Dú yǎn jùrén yǒu duōshao gè yǎnjing?

How many eyes had the Cyclops?

Tatoeba

人平均一分钟眨几次眼

Rén píngjūn yī fēnzhōng zhǎ jǐcì yǎnjing?

How many times a minute does the average person blink?

Character Family

Homophones — Characters pronounced jīng

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 睛 (jīng) mean in Chinese?
睛 (jīng) primarily means "eyeball." It is classified as HSK Level 2, making it a beginner-level character. It ranks #934 in character frequency.
What's the difference between 睛 and 清?
睛 (jīng) and 清 (qīng) are often confused. confusable. The key distinguishing feature: 目 vs 氵 (same 青 component).
How many strokes does 睛 have?
睛 is written with 13 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 睛?
The radical associated with 睛 is 目 (eye). This radical appears in many characters related to eye.
What are the components of 睛?
睛 is composed of: 目 (semantic), 青 (phonetic). Its IDS decomposition is ⿰目青 with a left-right layout. Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.
What are common words containing 睛?
Common words with 睛 include: 眼睛 (yǎn jing, "eye"); 目不转睛 (mù bù zhuǎn jīng, "unable to take one's eyes off (idiom)"); 火眼金睛 (huǒ yǎn jīn jīng, "piercing eyes"); 画龙点睛 (huà lóng diǎn jīng, "to paint a dragon and dot in the eyes (idiom)"); 定睛 (dìng jīng, "to stare at"). There are over 20 compound words containing this character.
What characters sound the same as 睛 (jīng)?
Several characters share the pronunciation jīng: 精 (essence), 京 (capital city of a country), 经 (pass through,经典), 惊 (to startle), and 1 more. Context and tones help distinguish between them in speech and writing.
Is 睛 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Yes, 睛 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.