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警

jǐng
noun #738

Meanings

  1. 1 to warn; to alert
  2. 2 police; police officer
  3. 3 alarm; vigilance

Examples

HSK 4
警察来了。
Jǐngchá lái le.
The police are here.
HSK 5
快报警！
Kuài bàojǐng!
Call the police!
HSK 6
这是一个警告。
Zhè shì yī gè jǐnggào.
This is a warning.

Tips

usage
警 is used in: 警察 (police), 报警 (report to police), 警告 (warn), 警惕 (be vigilant), 交警 (traffic police). The emergency number in China is 110 for police.

Components

radical
言 yán
speech; words
Speech radical at the bottom (full form 言, not the simplified 讠) - the indexing semantic. A warning is a speech-act: words intended to alert. The full-form 言 is used because 警 was never simplified in the radical area. Anchors 警 within the speech-act family alongside 语, 话, 议.
phonetic
敬 jìng
respect; alertness (here phonetic + semantic)
Top 敬 supplies the sound: jìng → jǐng with tone shift. Also semantic - 敬 carries the sense of respectful alertness (to be on guard, to show respect). Combined with the speech radical: words spoken with vigilance, hence warn / alert / police. A tight phono-semantic match.

Stroke Order

警 jǐng