(jīng): pass through,经典

(jīng) is a Chinese character meaning “pass through,经典.” Classified as HSK Level 2 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of (semantic). It ranks #62 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Etymologically derived, thread. Its radical form (silk) appears in many related characters such as (, to connect), (lěi, to accumulate), (shào, to continue).

Native pronunciation

Definitions

  1. pass through,经典

Etymology & Origin

pictophoneticthread

Components:semantic

Stroke Order

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8

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
adverbyǐ jīngalready2
adverbcéng jīngonce5
verb/nounjīng lìto experience4
adverbjīng chángfrequently2
verb/nounjīng guòto pass3
nounjīng lǐmanager3
nounjīng yànexperience4
nounshén jīngnerve6
noun/adjectivejīng jìeconomy4
noun/adjectivejīng diǎnthe classics5
verbjīng yíngto engage in (business etc)5
verblì jīngto experience6
verbjīng shāngto trade6

Common Compounds

WordPinyinMeaning
shèng jīngthe Confucian classics
jīng shòuto undergo (hardship)
jīng jìto manage (a business)
wèi jīngnot having undergone
jīng fèifunds
jīng shǒu(lit.) to pass through one's hands
bì jīngunavoidable
tú jīngto pass through
jīng yóuvia
jīng wénscripture
cái jīngfinance and economics
jīng dùlongitude
dōng jīngeast longitude
tòng jīngperiod pain
jīng zhuànclassic work (esp. Confucian classics)
100
Total compounds
48
As first character
52
As last character
0
As middle character

appears in 100 compound words: 48 as the first character, 52 as the last, and 0 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.

0.815677,116 co-occurrences
0.632484,744 co-occurrences
guò
0.586329,280 co-occurrences
wěi
0.56129,466 co-occurrences
yíng
0.546138,477 co-occurrences
0.535176,429 co-occurrences
yàn
0.52779,250 co-occurrences
cái
0.47035,340 co-occurrences
céng
0.459153,834 co-occurrences
mào
0.45419,866 co-occurrences

Idioms & Chengyu (43)

bǎojīngcāngsāngHSK 7+

to experience many vicissitudes; to have experienced many vicissitudes of life; to have lived through many changes

phrase
bǎojīngfēngshuāngHSK 7+

weather-beaten; having had one's fill of hardships; having experienced the hardship of life

phrase
bǎo jīng yōu huànHSK 6+

having experienced much suffering

phrase
bùjīngzhītánHSK 4+

cock-and-bull story

phrase
céngjīngcānghǎiHSK 7+

been there, done that

phrase
chǎn jīng xīn wénHSK 4+

Business News; Sankei Shimbun (Tokyo daily)

phrase
guài dàn bù jīngHSK 6+

uncanny; unbelievable; ridiculous

phrase
guīmó jīngjìHSK 5+

economies of scale

noun
guómín jīngjìHSK 4+

national economy

noun
huāngdànbùjīngHSK 7+

ridiculous; absurd; illogical; nonsensical

phrase
huāng guài bù jīngHSK 7+

absurd; unthinkable

phrase
jítǐ jīngjìHSK 5+

collective economy

noun

Showing 12 of 43 idioms containing .

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

过讨论,大家一致同意采用这个方案。

Jīngguò tǎolùn, dàjiā yízhì tóngyì cǎiyòng zhè gè fāng'àn.

After discussion, everyone unanimously agreed to adopt this plan.

UdnnewsindexFeb 2026

荣誉观护人提供曾毒贩第二人生 获厨艺大奖肯定

róng yù guàn hù rén tí gōng céng jīng dú fàn dì èr rén shēng huò chú yì dà jiǎng kěn dìng

Honorary Guardian Provided Second Life of a former drug dealer and was recognized by the Cooking Award

東方日報Feb 2026

龙吟虎啸:美元地位曾衰落

lóng yín hǔ xiào : měi yuán dì wèi céng jīng shuāi luò

The roar of the dragon and the roar: The status of the dollar has declined

Irna ChineseFeb 2026

第三十三届国际《古兰》展览会开幕

dì sān shí sān jiè guó jì gǔ lán jīng zhǎn lǎn huì kāi mù

The 33rd International Quran Exhibition opened

百度新闻Feb 2026

俄外长:俄美已商定建立双边济工作组

é wài cháng é měi yǐ shāng dìng jiàn lì shuāng biān jīng jǐ gōng zuò zǔ

Russian Foreign Minister: Russia and the US have agreed to set up a bilateral economic working group

百度新闻Feb 2026

你还是曾那个少年!苏翊鸣斩获中国队首金

nǐ hái shì céng jīng nā gě shǎo nián ! sū 翊 míng zhǎn huò zhōng guó duì shǒu jīn

You're still the same teenager! Su Yiming wins China's first gold.

Tatoeba

你曾得过重病吗?

Nǐ céngjīng dé guo zhòng bìng ma?

Have you ever had any serious illness?

Tatoeba

他在这里已住了两年了吗?

Tā zài zhèlǐ yǐjīng zhù le liǎng nián le ma?

Has he lived here for two years?

Tatoeba

电影已开始了吗?

Diànyǐng yǐjīng kāishǐ le ma?

Has the movie started?

Tatoeba

我的袜子已干了吗?

Wǒ de wàzi yǐjīng gān le ma?

Are my socks dry already?

Character Family

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 经 (jīng) mean in Chinese?
经 (jīng) primarily means "pass through,经典." It is classified as HSK Level 2, making it a beginner-level character. It ranks #62 in character frequency.
What's the difference between 经 and 江?
经 (jīng) and 江 (jiāng) are often confused. confusable. The key distinguishing feature: 纟 vs 氵 (same 工 component).
How many strokes does 经 have?
经 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 经?
The radical associated with 经 is 纟 (silk). This radical appears in many characters related to silk.
What are the components of 经?
经 is composed of: 纟 (semantic), undefined (structural). Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.
What are common words containing 经?
Common words with 经 include: 已经 (yǐ jīng, "already"); 曾经 (céng jīng, "once"); 经历 (jīng lì, "to experience"); 经常 (jīng cháng, "frequently"); 经过 (jīng guò, "to pass"). There are over 100 compound words containing this character.
Is 经 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
No. The simplified form is 经 and the traditional form is 經.

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.