靖 (jìng): to pacify; to suppress; to brin…

Meanings

1 to pacify; to suppress; to bring peace
2 peaceful; calm; tranquil
3 surname Jing

Characters

靖

jìng

to pacify; peaceful

Examples

HSK 7-9

经过多年战乱，新皇帝终于靖定了边疆。

Jīngguò duōnián zhànluàn, xīn huángdì zhōngyú jìng dìng le biānjiāng.

After years of war, the new emperor finally pacified the borderlands.

HSK 7-9

国家长久安靖，百姓安居乐业。

Guójiā chángjiǔ ānjìng, bǎixìng ānjūlèyè.

The country has long enjoyed peace; the people live and work in tranquillity.

HSK 7-9

靖刚是一位著名的日本棒球投手。

Jìng gāng shì yī wèi zhùmíng de Rìběn bàngqiú tóushǒu.

Tsuyoshi Jing is a famous Japanese baseball pitcher.

Tips

usage

jìng is a bound character - it does not stand alone in modern Mandarin. Two semantic clusters: (1) Pacification / suppression of unrest - 绥靖 (appease, pacify; also the loaded political term 'appeasement' as in 'Munich appeasement'), 靖乱 (suppress rebellion), 靖国 (pacify the nation). (2) Peaceful / tranquil - 安靖 (peace, stability). The historical 靖难之役 (Jingnan Campaign, 1399-1402) was the civil war in which the Yongle Emperor seized the Ming throne.

culture

靖 is a moderately common Chinese surname (Hundred Family Surnames). It is also a frequent character in personal names with the wish-meaning 'peaceful, settled' - e.g. the wuxia hero 郭靖 in Jin Yong's 《射雕英雄传》. In Japanese, the same character is read 'Yasushi' or 'Sei' and gives names like 靖国神社 (Yasukuni Shrine).

Components

semantic

立 lì

to stand; upright

Left 立 - 'to stand'. Contributes the image of standing upright, composed and unmoving: a person standing peacefully, a country standing settled. The Shuowen definition glosses 靖 as 立竫 'to stand still', and this left element carries that 'standing' core.

phonetic

青 qīng

blue-green; supplying the sound

Right phonetic 青 - supplies the sound (qīng → jìng, a regular palatal shift). The same phonetic anchors a strong family: 静 (still), 清 (clear), 情 (feeling), 请 (please), 晴 (clear sky), 睛 (pupil of the eye). The 'still / quiet' flavour of 静 is essentially the same as the 'peaceful / settled' flavour of 靖.