尖 (jiān): pointed; sharp; tapering

Meanings

1 pointed; sharp; tapering
2 shrill; piercing (of sound)
3 top; tip; peak

Characters

尖

jiān

sharp; pointed; tip

小 (small) on top of 大 (big) — something that narrows to a point.

Examples

这把刀非常尖。

Zhè bǎ dāo fēicháng jiān.

This knife is very sharp.

她发出了一声尖叫。

Tā fāchū le yī shēng jiānjiào.

She let out a shriek.

站在山尖上可以看到整个城市。

Zhàn zài shān jiān shàng kěyǐ kàndào zhěnggè chéngshì.

Standing at the mountain peak you can see the whole city.

铅笔的尖断了。

Qiānbǐ de jiān duàn le.

The pencil tip broke.

Tips

memory

The character 尖 is 小 (small) on top of 大 (big) — something that starts big at the bottom and narrows to a point at the top.

usage

Common compounds: 尖叫 (to scream), 尖锐 (sharp/keen), 尖端 (tip/cutting-edge), 笔尖 (pen tip), 指尖 (fingertip).

Components

radical

小 xiǎo

small

The small radical sits on top, picturing the narrow tip. Xinhua indexes 尖 under 小 as its anchor, and the compound is a classic 会意 ideograph: small piled on top of large makes a tapering point. The 小 cap supplies both the visual narrowing and the dictionary lookup.

semantic

大 dà

big

The big radical sits underneath as the wide base. Combining small-on-top with big-on-bottom pictures a tapering form — wide foundation, narrow apex — the geometry of any pointed thing. This is one of the most transparent ideographic compounds in the script.