(jīng): whale

(jīng) is a Chinese character meaning “whale.” Classified as HSK Level 7-9 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of (semantic) and (phonetic). It ranks #3138 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Etymologically derived, fish. Its radical form (fish) appears in many related characters such as (, fish), (xiān, fresh), (shā, shark).

Native pronunciation

Definitions

  1. whale

Etymology & Origin

pictophoneticfish

Decomposition: ⿰鱼京 (layout: left-right)

Stroke Order

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

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

Words & Compounds

Common Compounds

WordPinyinMeaning
jīng yúwhale
bái jīngbeluga whale
lán jīngblue whale
mǒ xiāng jīngsperm whale
cán shí jīng tūnlit. to nibble like a silkworm or swallow like a whale (idiom)
shā rén jīngorca
yī jiǎo jīngnarwhal (Monodon monoceros)
zuò tóu jīnghumpback whale (Megaptera novaeangliae)
dú jiǎo jīngnarwhal (Monodon monoceros)
jīng yú zuòCetus (constellation)
jīng mùCetacea (whale family)
bǔ jīng chuánwhaler
jīng tóu guànshoebill stork (Balaeniceps rex)
xū jīngbaleen whale
jīng luòwhale fall
23
Total compounds
35
As first character
57
As last character
9
As middle character

appears in 23 compound words: 35 as the first character, 57 as the last, and 9 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.

0.5543,009 co-occurrences
lán
0.5442,202 co-occurrences
shā
0.516402 co-occurrences
0.508600 co-occurrences
0.5073,066 co-occurrences
tún
0.505492 co-occurrences
0.452930 co-occurrences
齿chǐ
0.446432 co-occurrences
0.4341,032 co-occurrences
0.429102 co-occurrences

Idioms & Chengyu (1)

cánshíjīngtūnHSK 7+

to seize another country's territory by piecemeal encroachment or wholesale annexation

phrase

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

字由16笔画组成,结构很巧妙。

jīng zì yóu bǐ huà zǔ chéng , jié gòu hěn qiǎo miào .

The character for "whale" consists of 16 strokes and has a very ingenious structure.

Nownews今日新聞Mar 2026

企排/台北华“黄金决胜局”逆转高雄台电 完成不可思...

qǐ pái tái běi jīng huá huáng jīn jué shèng jú nì zhuǎn gāo xióng tái diàn wán chéng bù kě sī . . .

Corporate Volleyball: Taipei Whales Stages a Comeback in a "Golden Set" to Defeat Kaohsiung Taipower, Achieving an Unthinkable...

Orientaldaily MyMar 2026

20尺幼获救放海后死亡 尸骸搁浅丹容亚路海滩

2 0 chǐ yòu jīng huò jiù fàng hǎi hòu sǐ wáng shī 骸 gē qiǎn dān róng yà lù hǎi tān

A 20-foot-long calf was rescued and released back into the ocean but later died; its carcass washed ashore at Danrong Yalu Beach

UdnnewsindexMar 2026

发现古老鱼歌声 助研究海洋生态

fā xiàn gǔ lǎo jīng yú gē shēng zhù yán jiū hǎi yáng shēng tài

Discovery of Ancient Whale Songs Aids Research on Marine Ecology

NewsFeb 2026

小虎屏东搁浅4死 7只获救野放

xiǎo hǔ jīng bǐng dōng gē qiǎn sǐ zhī huò jiù yě fàng

Baby killer whales ran aground in Pingtung, 4 died, and 7 were rescued and released into the wild

NewsFeb 2026

...高端中场旺 人均注码3万破顶 马年新春“鱼客”53名 单注最高80万

. . . gāo duān zhōng chǎng wàng rén jūn zhù mǎ wàn pò dǐng mǎ nián xīn chūn jīng yú kè míng dān zhù zuì gāo wàn

... High-end midfielders are prosperous, with an average bet of 30,000 per capita to break the top, and 53 "whale guests" in the New Year of the Horse have a single bet of up to 800,000 yuan

Character Family

Radical Family — Characters sharing the fish radical

Homophones — Characters pronounced jīng

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 鲸 (jīng) mean in Chinese?
鲸 (jīng) primarily means "whale." It is classified as HSK Level 7-9, making it an expert-level character. It ranks #3138 in character frequency.
What's the difference between 鲸 and 谅?
鲸 (jīng) and 谅 (liàng) are often confused. confusable. The key distinguishing feature: 鱼 vs 讠 (same 京 component).
How many strokes does 鲸 have?
鲸 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 鲸?
The radical associated with 鲸 is 鱼 (fish). This radical appears in many characters related to fish.
What are the components of 鲸?
鲸 is composed of: 鱼 (semantic), 京 (phonetic). Its IDS decomposition is ⿰鱼京 with a left-right layout. Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.
What are common words containing 鲸?
Common words with 鲸 include: 鲸鱼 (jīng yú, "whale"); 白鲸 (bái jīng, "beluga whale"); 蓝鲸 (lán jīng, "blue whale"); 抹香鲸 (mǒ xiāng jīng, "sperm whale"); 蚕食鲸吞 (cán shí jīng tūn, "lit. to nibble like a silkworm or swallow like a whale (idiom)"). There are over 23 compound words containing this character.
What characters sound the same as 鲸 (jīng)?
Several characters share the pronunciation jīng: 惊 (to startle). Context and tones help distinguish between them in speech and writing.
Is 鲸 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Yes, 鲸 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.