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杰

傑
jié
adjective #1,988

Meanings

  1. 1 hero
  2. 2 outstanding
  3. 3 prominent

Examples

HSK 5
她是我们这代最杰出的科学家。
Tā shì wǒmen zhè dài zuì jiéchū de kēxuéjiā.
She is the most outstanding scientist of our generation.
HSK 7-9
贝多芬的第九交响曲是一部杰作。
Bèiduōfēn de dìjiǔ jiāoxiǎngqǔ shì yī bù jiézuò.
Beethoven's Ninth Symphony is a masterpiece.

Tips

memory
杰 = 木 (tree) over 灬 (fire dots) - picture a tree standing tall and bright above flames. The 'outstanding, prominent' meaning comes from the silhouette of one figure rising above the rest, originally a person towering over others in the traditional 傑.
usage
杰 is most common in names and compounds: 杰出 (outstanding), 英杰 (hero), 豪杰 (hero/great person). It's a popular character in Chinese personal names for boys.

Components

radical
木 mù
tree (radical)
Top tree radical - the indexing radical. In 杰 the tree perches over four-dot fire, sketching a tall tree standing above flames. Symbolically the tree-above-fire silhouette gives the 'outstanding, towering' sense. Strict etymology: simplified from 傑 (亻 + 桀), where 桀 shows two feet on a perch.
semantic
灬 huǒ
fire (bottom radical, variant of 火)
Bottom four-dot fire - the bottom-position form of 火. Here 灬 is the graphic descendant of the lower legs of 桀 (perched feet), repurposed as fire dots after simplification. Same shape sits under 热 hot, 烈 fierce, 煮 boil - though in 杰 'fire' is visual more than semantic.

Stroke Order

杰 jié