景 (jǐng) · scenery; view

Meanings

1 scenery; view
2 scene; situation
3 background (in a photo or painting)

Characters

景

jǐng

scenery; view; situation

Examples

HSK 3

他看到了一个奇怪的景象。

Tā kàndào le yī gè qíguài de jǐngxiàng.

He saw a strange sight.

HSK 4

这里的风景很美。

Zhèlǐ de fēngjǐng hěn měi.

The scenery here is beautiful.

HSK 5

这里的景色美得让人难以形容。

Zhèlǐ de jǐngsè měi de ràng rén nányǐ xíngróng.

The scenery here is so beautiful it's hard to describe.

Tips

usage

景 rarely stands alone. It appears in compounds like 风景 (scenery), 背景 (background), 景色 (landscape), and 景象 (sight/scene).

history

景 combines 日 (sun) and 京 (capital), originally evoking the bright, sunlit view from a capital city.

Components

radical

日 rì

sun; day

日 is the indexing sun radical, a square sun with a horizontal stroke marking the central glow. It supplies the original meaning of 景: sunlight cast as scenery, the bright vista revealed when sun strikes a landscape. Sibling chars 明 (bright), 晴 (clear), 暖 (warm) share the daylight family.

phonetic

京 jīng

capital; high mound

京 (jīng) supplies the sound - initial preserved, rime preserved, tone shifted to third (jǐng). Originally pictured a tall watchtower on a mound; that elevated-vista flavour suits 景 perfectly: a scene seen from above, lit by the sun. Same phonetic also drives 凉 (cool), 影 (shadow - sun + 京).