罄 (qìng): to use up; to exhaust

Meanings

1 to use up; to exhaust
2 empty (of a vessel)

Characters

罄

qìng

to exhaust; empty

Examples

他的罪行罄竹难书。

Tā de zuìxíng qìngzhúnánshū.

His crimes are too many to record — they could not be written down even if all the bamboo were used up.

限量版上市一小时内便已告罄。

Xiànliàngbǎn shàngshì yī xiǎoshí nèi biàn yǐ gàoqìng.

The limited edition sold out within an hour of release.

救援物资几乎罄尽。

Jiùyuán wùzī jīhū qìngjìn.

The relief supplies were nearly exhausted.

Tips

usage

Modern 罄 survives mainly in two formal expressions: 告罄 (to be sold out / used up — common in news and commerce) and the chengyu 罄竹难书 ('even if all the bamboo were stripped for writing slips the crimes could not be written down'). Both keep the original sense of 'completely emptied out' — never use 罄 in casual speech, only formal or written register.

history

The chengyu 罄竹难书 originated in the 《旧唐书》 describing the crimes of 隋炀帝 — emperor Yang of Sui. The image is concrete: ancient writing was on bamboo slips, so 'stripping every bamboo in South Mountain' was a hyperbole for 'unwritable amounts'.

register

Literary / news-headline register only. Spoken Chinese uses 卖完 (sold out), 用完 (used up), or 没了.

Components

radical

缶 fǒu

earthen jar; pot

Bottom 缶 (earthen jar) is the indexing radical — Kangxi #121. The semantic logic: a 缶 is a vessel, and 罄 describes that vessel being EMPTY. The combination of 'chime-sound' phonetic over 'jar' radical gives 'a jar that rings hollow when struck' = empty.

phonetic

殸 qìng

stone chime; sound

Top 殸 is the phonetic — same element drives 磬 (stone chime) and 声 (sound, simplified from 聲). It originally depicted a hanging chime struck by a mallet; the bell-ringing 'qìng' sound supplies the reading here.