jīng
adjective

Meanings

  1. 1 cautious; apprehensive (used doubled)
  2. 2 careful and conscientious

Examples

Tā gōngzuò jīngjīngyèyè, bùgǎn yǒu sīháo mǎhu.
He works conscientiously and dares not be the least bit careless.
Zhànzhànjīngjīng, rú lín shēnyuān.
Trembling with fear, as if standing at the edge of a deep abyss.
Shàngbān dìyī tiān, tā zhànzhànjīngjīng de.
On his first day at work he was nervous and walked on eggshells.

Tips

usage
Always doubled. 兢兢业业 ('diligent and conscientious') is a compliment; 战战兢兢 ('trembling with fear, treading carefully') describes anxious caution. Both come from the Classic of Poetry.

Components

semantic
to overcome; to restrain
The left is one of a doubled pair; the old form pictured a person bowed under a heavy weight on the head, which gave the sense of careful, anxious self-restraint.
semantic
to overcome; to restrain
The right repeats the figure. Doubling it intensifies the meaning to trembling caution; the ('legs') element at the foot of each is the indexing radical.

Filed under radical (ér) by convention. is not a separate component in , so no strokes are highlighted.

Stroke Order

jīng