琼 (qióng) · fine jade

Meanings

1 fine jade
2 beautiful; exquisite
3 short name for Hainan Province

Characters

琼

qióng

fine jade; beautiful

Examples

HSK 1

她的名字里有一个琼字。

Tā de míngzi lǐ yǒu yígè qióng zì.

Her name has the character Qiong in it.

HSK 7-9

琼楼玉宇是形容华丽建筑的成语。

Qiónglóu-yùyǔ shì xíngróng huálì jiànzhù de chéngyǔ.

'Jade towers and jeweled palaces' is an idiom describing magnificent architecture.

HSK 7-9

琼是海南省的简称。

Qióng shì Hǎinán Shěng de jiǎnchēng.

Qiong is the abbreviation for Hainan Province.

Tips

culture

琼 is a common character in Chinese given names, especially for women, evoking beauty and preciousness. It also appears in literary expressions like 琼浆玉液 (qióngjiāng yùyè, fine wine - literally 'jade nectar').

usage

琼 as an abbreviation for Hainan Province appears on license plates (琼A, 琼B, etc.) and in official documents.

Components

radical

王 wáng

jade (radical form)

Left 王 - on the left side this is the jade radical 玉 in compressed form (bottom dot dropped). Anchors 琼 in the precious-stones family alongside 玲, 珑, 珠, 璃. Reading it as 'king' here is wrong; it always means 'jade' on the left side.

phonetic

京 jīng

capital city

Right 京 supplies the sound - jīng → qióng via old j/q palatalization. The traditional 瓊 used 夐 as phonetic; PRC reform replaced it with the simpler 京. 京 depicts a tall watchtower on a hill - a memory hook of 'jade as lofty as a capital,' fitting the literary 'exquisite, beautiful' sense.