镜 (jìng): mirror

镜 (jìng) is a Chinese character meaning “mirror.” Classified as HSK Level 4 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of 钅 (semantic) and 竟 (phonetic). It ranks #1244 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Etymologically derived, 镜 metal. Its radical form 钅 (metal) appears in many related characters such as 钱 (qián, money), 错 (cuò, wrong, mistake), 钟 (zhōng, clock, bell).

Spoken pronunciation

Definitions

  1. mirror

Etymology & Origin

镜

pictophoneticmetal

Decomposition: ⿰钅竟 (layout: left-right)

Stroke Order

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16

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

Words & Compounds

HSK Vocabulary with 镜

WordPinyinMeaningHSK
镜头nounjìng tóucamera lens6
眼镜nounyǎn jìngspectacles4
镜子nounjìng zimirror4

Common Compounds

WordPinyinMeaning
望远镜nounwàng yuǎn jìngtelescope
墨镜nounmò jìngsunglasses
照镜子verbzhào jìng zito look in the mirror
显微镜nounxiǎn wēi jìngmicroscope
眼镜蛇nounyǎn jìng shécobra
太阳镜nountài yáng jìngsunglasses
隐形眼镜nounyǐn xíng yǎn jìngcontact lens
镜片nounjìng piànlens
镜像nounjìng xiàngmirror image
后视镜nounhòu shì jìngrearview mirror
破镜重圆pò jìng chóng yuán(lit.) the two halves of the broken mirror are rejoined (idiom)
放大镜nounfàng dà jìngmagnifying glass
护目镜nounhù mù jìnggoggles
太阳眼镜tài yáng yǎn jìngsunglasses
内窥镜nounnèi kuī jìngendoscope
100
Total compounds
11
As first character
75
As last character
14
As middle character

镜 appears in 100 compound words: 11 as the first character, 75 as the last, and 14 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 镜 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.

头tóu
0.65919,246 co-occurrences
瞄miáo
0.5962,340 co-occurrences
远yuǎn
0.5615,990 co-occurrences
滤lǜ
0.529960 co-occurrences
棱léng
0.516702 co-occurrences
望wàng
0.5046,220 co-occurrences
眼yǎn
0.4994,079 co-occurrences
窥kuī
0.499224 co-occurrences
显xiǎn
0.4572,272 co-occurrences
摄shè
0.4451,520 co-occurrences

Idioms & Chengyu (12)

大跌眼镜dàdiēyǎnjìngHSK 6+

to have one's jaws drop (often in a bad way); to be greatly surprised or astonished; to be dumbfounded

phrase
跌破眼镜diē pò yǎn jìngHSK 6+

(fig.) to be astounded

phrase
广角镜头guǎng jiǎo jìng tóuHSK 4+

wide angle camera shot

phrase
明镜高悬míngjìnggāoxuánHSK 7+

perspicacious and impartial in judgment

phrase
秦镜高悬qín jìng gāo xuánHSK 7+

see 明鏡高懸|明镜高悬

phrase
太阳眼镜tài yáng yǎn jìngHSK 4+

sunglasses

phrase
咸镜北道XiánjìngběidàoHSK 4+

North Hamgyong (a province of North Korea)

咸镜南道XiánjìngnándàoHSK 4+

South Hamgyong Province (a province of North Korea)

显微镜座XiǎnwēijìngzuòHSK 5+

Microscopium

隐形眼镜yǐnxíng yǎnjìngHSK 6+

contact lens

noun

Showing 10 of 12 idioms containing 镜.

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

浴室的镜子上有水渍,需要用清洁剂擦干净。

Yùshì de jìngzi shang yǒu shuǐzì, xūyào yòng qīngjiéjì cā gānjìng.

There are water stains on the bathroom mirror; it needs to be cleaned with cleaner.

NewsFeb 2026

男星摘下眼镜变一个人 认少了眼镜真的“没安全感”

nán xīng zhāi xià yǎn jìng biàn yī gè rén rèn shǎo le yǎn jìng zhēn de méi ān quán gǎn

The male star took off his glasses and became a person, admitting that he was really "insecure" without glasses

NewsFeb 2026

广角镜/新社“樱花鸟森林” 花道迎宾

guǎng jiǎo jìng xīn shè 樱 huā niǎo sēn lín huā dào yíng bīn

Wide-angle lens/Xinshe "Cherry Blossom Bird Forest" flower path welcomes guests

NewsFeb 2026

眼镜店老板:钦佩神韵揭露迫害的勇气和智慧

yǎn jìng diàn lǎo bǎn qīn pèi shén yùn jiē lù pò hài de yǒng qì hé zhì huì

Optician: I admire Shen Yun's courage and wisdom in exposing the persecution.

NewsFeb 2026

夜王—杨偲泳性感镜头疑遭刻意删减 公开绝密福利照凭歌寄意回...

yè wáng yáng 偲 yǒng xìng gǎn jìng tóu yí zāo kè yì shān jiǎn gōng kāi jué mì fú lì zhào píng gē jì yì huí . . .

Night King—Yang Siyong's Sultry Shots Suspected of Deliberate Censorship Leaked Top-Secret Bonus Photos Express Sentiments Through Song...

NewsFeb 2026

Meta 智慧眼镜传加入脸部辨识功能,隐私风险急升高

zhì huì yǎn jìng chuán jiā rù liǎn bù biàn shí gōng néng , yǐn sī fēng xiǎn jí shēng gāo

Meta Smart Glasses Reportedly Add Facial Recognition Feature, Privacy Risks Soar

Tatoeba

黑乎乎的,戴墨镜干啥?

Hēihūhū de, dài mòjìng gàn shá?

What do you need sunglasses for in such a dark place?

Tatoeba

唐纳德去清理镜子碎片。

Tángnàdé qù qīnglǐ jìngzi suìpiàn.

Donald went to clean up the mirror fragments.

Tatoeba

那位戴眼镜的男士是谁?

Nà wèi dài yǎnjìng de nánshì shì shéi?

Who is that gentleman in spectacles?

Tatoeba

你找到你的隐形眼镜了吗?

Nǐ zhǎodào nǐ de yǐnxíngyǎnjìng le ma?

Did you find your contact lenses?

Character Family

Semantic Family — Characters sharing the 钅 (metal) component

Homophones — Characters pronounced jìng

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 镜 (jìng) mean in Chinese?
镜 (jìng) primarily means "mirror." It is classified as HSK Level 4, making it an upper-intermediate character. It ranks #1244 in character frequency.
How many strokes does 镜 have?
镜 is written with 16 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 镜?
The radical associated with 镜 is 钅 (metal). This radical appears in many characters related to metal.
What are the components of 镜?
镜 is composed of: 钅 (semantic), 竟 (phonetic). Its IDS decomposition is ⿰钅竟 with a left-right layout. Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.
What are common words containing 镜?
Common words with 镜 include: 镜头 (jìng tóu, "camera lens"); 眼镜 (yǎn jìng, "spectacles"); 镜子 (jìng zi, "mirror"); 望远镜 (wàng yuǎn jìng, "telescope"); 墨镜 (mò jìng, "sunglasses"). There are over 100 compound words containing this character.
What characters sound the same as 镜 (jìng)?
Several characters share the pronunciation jìng: 境 (border, situation), 经 (pass through,经典), 精 (essence), 惊 (to startle), and 6 more. Context and tones help distinguish between them in speech and writing.
Is 镜 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
No. The simplified form is 镜 and the traditional form is 鏡.

Practice writing 镜 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.