鸡血石

雞血石
jīxuèshí
noun

Measure Word

Meanings

  1. 1 chicken-blood stone (red-flecked dickite/chalcedony, traditional Chinese seal-carving stone)
  2. 2 bloodstone
  3. 3 heliotrope

Examples

Zhè fāng yìnzhāng shì yòng Chānghuà jīxuèshí kè de.
This seal is carved from Changhua chicken-blood stone.
Shàngděng jīxuèshí de hóngsè yuè xiān yuè zhíqián.
The brighter the red of high-grade chicken-blood stone, the more valuable it is.

Tips

culture
One of the 'Four Famous Seal Stones' (四大印石) of China, alongside 寿山石, 青田石, and 巴林石. The most prized variety comes from Changhua (昌化) in Zhejiang. The 'blood' is iron-rich cinnabar veining; collectors grade it by the brightness, evenness, and area of the red.
memory
Read literally: ('chicken') + ('blood') + ('stone'). here takes the formal reading xuè, parallel to 鸡血 ('chicken blood') in the literal sense of the cinnabar-red veining.

Stroke Order

xuè
shí