竟 (jìng): unexpectedly, actually, to go so far as to
竟 (jìng) is a Chinese character meaning “unexpectedly.” Classified as HSK Level 4 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of 音 (structural) and 儿 (structural). It ranks #706 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).
Etymologically derived, 竟 a person 儿 finishing a musical piece 音. Its radical form 音 (sound) appears in many related characters such as 音 (yīn, sound), 章 (zhāng, chapter), 韵 (yùn, the final (of a syllable) (Chinese phonology)).
Definitions
- unexpectedly
- actually
- to go so far as to
Etymology & Origin
ideographicA person 儿 finishing a musical piece 音
Decomposition: ⿱音儿 (layout: top-bottom)
Stroke Order
Practice writing 竟 with real-time feedback — trace each stroke in the correct order and build muscle memory in the HanziFeed app.
Words & Compounds
HSK Vocabulary with 竟
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning | HSK |
|---|---|---|---|
| 究竟adverb/noun | jiū jìng | to go to the bottom of a matter | 4 |
| 竟然adverb | jìng rán | unexpectedly | 4 |
| 毕竟adverb | bì jìng | after all | 5 |
Common Compounds
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 竟敢 | jìng gǎn | to have the impertinence |
| 有志者事竟成 | yǒu zhì zhě shì jìng chéng | a really determined person will find a solution (idiom) |
| 未竟 | wèi jìng | unfinished |
| 有志竟成 | yǒu zhì jìng chéng | persevere and you will succeed (idiom) |
| 竟日 | jìng rì | (literary) all day long |
| 未竟之志 | wèi jìng zhī zhì | unfulfilled ambition |
| 一探究竟 | yī tàn jiū jìng | to check out |
| 竟陵 | jìng líng | Jingling, former name of Tianmen 天門|天门, Hubei |
竟 appears in 11 compound words: 36 as the first character, 36 as the last, and 27 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 竟 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.
Idioms & Chengyu (3)
Example Sentences
他竟然考上了理想的大学，大家都为他高兴。
Tā jìngrán kǎo shàng le lǐxiǎng de dàxué, dàjiā dōu wèi tā gāoxìng.
He actually got into his ideal university; everyone is happy for him.
... 老人吃进ICU!“冰箱杀手”李斯特菌究竟为何?
. . . lǎo rén chī jìn I C U ! bīng xiāng shā shǒu lǐ sī tè jūn jiū jìng wéi hé ?
... The old man eats into the ICU!" Refrigerator killer "What is listeria bacteria?
在好市多竟买到“空心泡芙” 一票会员认证:分店品质...
zài hǎo shì duō jìng mǎi dào kōng xīn pāo 芙 yī piào huì yuán rèn zhèng : fēn diàn pǐn zhì . . .
I actually bought a "hollow puff" at Costco, a vote of membership certification: branch quality...
27岁男健身突胸痛肿胀 竟是罕见“胸大肌断裂”
2 7 suì nán jiàn shēn tū xiōng tòng zhǒng zhàng jìng shì hǎn jiàn xiōng dà jī duàn liè
The 27-year-old man's sudden chest pain and swelling during fitness is actually a rare "pectoralis major muscle rupture"
上海这家人收了7万块压岁钱!竟被家长弄丢了
shǎng hǎi zhè jiā rén shōu le mò kuài yā suì qián ! jìng bèi jiā cháng lòng diū le
This Shanghai family received 70,000 yuan of New Year's money! The parents lost it.
马年话马丨龙马精神的“龙马”究竟是什么?
mǎ nián huà mǎ 丨 lóng mǎ jīng shén de lóng mǎ jiū jìng shì shén má ?
The year of the horse talk about the horse丨the dragon horse spirit of the "dragon horse" what exactly is it?
你竟敢这样对长辈说话？！
Nǐ jìnggǎn zhèyàng duì zhǎngbèi shuōhuà?!
How dare you speak like that to your elders and betters!
汤姆究竟在做什么？
Tāngmǔ jiūjìng zài zuò shénme?
What exactly does Tom do?
我竟然蠢得被这么简单的谎话骗倒了！
Wǒ jìngrán chǔn de bèi zhème jiǎndān de huǎnghuà piàn dǎo le!
How foolish I was not to discover that simple lie!
什么意思，他竟然一直在欺骗我！
Shénme yìsi, tā jìngrán yīzhí zài qīpiàn wǒ!
I ask you, he's been cheating me!
Character Family
音 Radical Family — Characters sharing the sound radical
Frequently Asked Questions
What does 竟 (jìng) mean in Chinese?
What's the difference between 竟 and 来?
How many strokes does 竟 have?
What is the radical of 竟?
What are the components of 竟?
What are common words containing 竟?
What characters sound the same as 竟 (jìng)?
Is 竟 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Practice writing 竟 with real-time feedback
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