尽 (jìn): to use up; to exhaust

Meanings

1 to use up; to exhaust
2 to end; to finish
3 to the utmost
4 all; entirely

Characters

尽

jìn

to exhaust; to the utmost

Examples

他用尽了全部力气。

Tā yòngjìn le quánbù lìqi.

He used up all his strength.

我们会尽力帮你。

Wǒmen huì jìnlì bāng nǐ.

We will do our utmost to help you.

这条路的尽头有一座庙。

Zhè tiáo lù de jìntóu yǒu yī zuò miào.

There is a temple at the end of this road.

Tips

usage

As jìn, 尽 means use up / exhaust / reach the end: 用尽 (use up), 尽力 (do one's utmost), 尽头 (the very end), 尽情 (to one's heart's content). The thread is 'all the way to the bottom — nothing left.'

mistakes

尽 has two readings. jìn = use up / utmost (尽力, 用尽, 尽头). jǐn = greatest extent / priority (尽管, 尽量, 尽快). Rule of thumb: if it means 'within the limits / as far as / give priority' it's jǐn; if it means 'all the way to the end / exhausted' it's jìn.

Components

radical

尺 chǐ

ruler; foot (here graphic)

Top portion has the 尺 silhouette and gives the indexing radical 尸 (body). The modern 尽 is a heavy simplification of two distinct traditional characters (儘 'as much as possible' and 盡 'exhaust') — neither original phonetic survived. Treat the 尺 outline here as a structural shell.

ideograph

⺀ diǎn

two dots (graphic residue)

Two small dots inside the shell. In the traditional 盡, this slot held a hand 又 with a brush sweeping out the last contents of a vessel 皿 — the literal act of using something up. The simplified 尽 collapsed all of that to two dots; learn it as an abstract residue rather than a productive component.