尽 (jǐn): to the greatest extent

Meanings

1 to the greatest extent
2 as far as possible; as much as possible
3 within the limits of
4 to give priority to

Characters

尽

jǐn

to the greatest extent

Examples

HSK 3

我会尽量早到。

Wǒ huì jǐnliàng zǎo dào.

I'll try my best to arrive early.

HSK 3

尽管下着雨，他还是出门了。

Jǐnguǎn xià zhe yǔ, tā háishì chūmén le.

Even though it was raining, he still went out.

HSK 4

请尽快回复我。

Qǐng jǐnkuài huífù wǒ.

Please reply to me as soon as possible.

Tips

usage

As jǐn, 尽 means 'within the maximum allowed' or 'give priority to': 尽量 / 尽可能 (as much as possible), 尽快 / 尽早 (as soon as possible). 尽管 adds two senses: as a conjunction = 'although / even though,' and as an adverb = 'go ahead and (do it) without hesitation' (尽管问 - feel free to ask).

memory

Simplified 尽 merges two traditional characters: 儘 (as far as possible) and 盡 (to exhaust). The jǐn reading inherits 儘, which has the person radical 亻 on the left - think 'a person stretching to their LIMIT.' That captures jǐn: pushing to the maximum allowed, but stopping at the boundary.

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.