擎 (qíng) · to lift up; to hold aloft; to raise (above one's…

Meanings

1 to lift up; to hold aloft; to raise (above one's head)
2 to support

Characters

擎

qíng

to lift up; to hold aloft

Examples

HSK 5

众擎易举。

Zhòng qíng yì jǔ.

What many lift together is easy to raise. (proverb: many hands make light work)

HSK 7-9

他高擎火炬走在队伍前面。

Tā gāo qíng huǒjù zǒu zài duìwu qiánmiàn.

He held the torch high and walked at the front of the procession.

Tips

usage

擎 is literary/elevated - everyday Mandarin uses 举 (jǔ) 'to raise' or 抬 (tái) 'to lift'. 擎 survives in fixed phrases (高擎火炬 'hold the torch high', 一柱擎天 'a single pillar holds up the sky') and in the modern compound 引擎 (yǐnqíng = 'engine', borrowed phonetically from English).

memory

Look at the structure: 敬 'respect' on top, 手 'hand' on the bottom - the visual logic is 'a respectful hand raised up', which fits 'lift on high'.

Components

radical

手 shǒu

hand

Bottom 手 - the full four-stroke hand radical, not abbreviated to 扌 because it sits at the bottom rather than the left. Indexes 擎 in the lifting family alongside 拿 to hold, 举 to raise, 抬 to lift. Names the act of hoisting high with both hands, palms upturned to support weight.

phonetic

敬 jìng

respect; revere (here phonetic + semantic)

Top 敬 supplies the sound: jìng drifted to qíng via a j/q alternation with finals change. 敬 also adds semantic flavour - reverence, careful uplifted handling - fitting an action like hoisting something aloft as if making an offering. The ceremonial register suits 擎天 'to prop up the sky'.