捷 (jié): quick

Meanings

1 quick
2 nimble
3 prompt
4 victory
5 triumph

Characters

捷

jié

quick; victory

Examples

他的动作非常敏捷。

Tā de dòngzuò fēicháng mǐnjié.

His movements are very nimble.

我们的球队首战告捷。

Wǒmen de qiúduì shǒu zhàn gàojié.

Our team won their first battle.

Tips

usage

捷 is also short for 捷克 (Jiékè, Czech Republic). As a standalone character, it most often appears in compound words like 敏捷 (agile) and 快捷 (quick).

Components

radical

扌 shǒu

hand (radical form of 手)

Left raise-hand radical signals an active verb of doing — here, swift action with the hand. 捷 belongs to the manual-action family but takes on a specialised meaning of speed and dexterity: 敏捷 nimble, 快捷 quick, 捷径 shortcut.

phonetic

疌 jié

swift (rare standalone)

Right 疌 supplies the sound — jié carried over unchanged. 疌 is rarely seen standalone today but originally meant "swift, agile," combining a hand and a foot. Same phonetic appears in 婕 graceful woman, 睫 eyelash, and the geographic name 捷克 (Czech). The semantic flavour reinforces the speed meaning.