进

進
jìn
verb HSK 2 #226

Meanings

  1. 1 to enter
  2. 2 to advance

Characters

辶 (walk) + 井 (well) - walking toward a well.

Examples

HSK 1
请进!
Qǐng jìn!
Please come in!
HSK 2
Tā jìn le jiàoshì.
He entered the classroom.
HSK 3
Kèrén lái le, qǐng tāmen jìnlái.
The guests have arrived; please show them in.

Tips

grammar
进 combines with directional complements: 进去 (go in, away from speaker), 进来 (come in, toward speaker). This in/out + toward/away pattern is fundamental in Chinese.

Components

radical
辶 chuò
walk; movement
Walking radical wrapping the lower-left - the simplified form of 辵, two strokes for legs plus a dot for the head in motion. It marks 进 as a verb of going, in the same family as 退 (retreat), 追 (pursue) and 远 (far away).
phonetic
井 jǐng
well
井 (jǐng) is the simplified swap-in for traditional 隹 (short-tailed bird), keeping a similar sound and many fewer strokes. The 1956 reformers picked it largely because jǐn/jìn are close in Mandarin. Use 井 here purely as a sound cue - the meaning is all in the 辶 below.

Stroke Order

进 jìn