静 (jìng): still

Meanings

1 still
2 quiet
3 calm

Characters

静

jìng

quiet; still; calm

Contains 青 (blue/green) + 争 (to fight) — the stillness after conflict.

Examples

请安静！

Qǐng ānjìng!

Please be quiet!

夜晚很安静。

Yèwǎn hěn ānjìng.

The night is very quiet.

她是一个文静的女孩。

Tā shì yí gè wénjìng de nǚhái.

She is a gentle and quiet girl.

静下心来好好想想。

Jìng xià xīn lái hǎohǎo xiǎngxiang.

Calm down and think carefully.

Tips

usage

安静 = quiet/peaceful. 冷静 = calm/cool-headed. 平静 = tranquil. 静 combines with different first characters for different nuances.

Components

radical

青 qīng

green-blue; pure

Left component — 青 is both the indexing radical and the phonetic (qīng → jìng with initial palatalization). 青 names the green-blue of growing plants and clear sky, carrying a 'pure/clear' flavour that fits 静's calm meaning directly. As a phonetic it also drives 清 (clear water), 情 (feeling), 请 (please) — a tight qing/jing family.

semantic

争 zhēng

contend; struggle

Right component — 争 'contend' (two hands fighting over an object). The pairing is intentionally paradoxical: stillness on top of struggle. The traditional reading is that true 静 is calm even amid contention — a stillness that survives the fight. Pedagogically the 争 element supplies the contrast that defines real quietness; 青 alone would not.