键 (jiàn): key (on a keyboard or piano)

Meanings

1 key (on a keyboard or piano)
2 button; key

Characters

键

jiàn

key (on keyboard); button

Examples

按哪个键可以保存？

Àn nǎge jiàn kěyǐ bǎocún?

Which key do I press to save?

这个键卡住了。

Zhège jiàn kǎzhù le.

This key is stuck.

回车键在右边。

Huíchē jiàn zài yòubiān.

The enter key is on the right.

Tips

usage

键盘 (jiànpán) = keyboard. 按键 (ànjiàn) = button/key. 关键 (guānjiàn) = crucial/key (figurative). 回车键 (huíchē jiàn) = enter key. 空格键 (kōnggé jiàn) = space bar.

usage

键 is used for any pressable key or button on a device. For physical keys that open locks, use 钥匙 (yàoshi) instead.

Components

radical

钅 jīn

metal (left-side form of 金)

Left-side 钅 is the metal radical, the simplified left-side form of 金. It marks 键 as a metal object — originally the iron pin that held a wheel on its axle (the 'lynchpin' meaning), later extended to keys, buttons, and computer-keyboard keys. Same family as 银, 钢, 铁, 锁.

phonetic

建 jiàn

to build; establish

Right-side 建 supplies the sound (jiàn → jiàn, identical). The 'establish/set up' meaning of 建 also resonates softly: a 键 is what fixes one part to another, what holds a structure together. Pure-tone phonetic match makes this an unusually clean phono-semantic pair.