jìng
noun #50,854

Meanings

  1. 1 spasm
  2. 2 convulsion

Examples

HSK 4
Tā de tuǐ tūrán chōu jìng.
His leg suddenly cramped up.
HSK 6
Bìngrén chūxiàn le jīròu jìngluán.
The patient developed muscle spasms.

Tips

usage
Almost always appears in compounds: 痉挛 (spasm/convulsion), 抽痉 (to cramp), 热痉 (heat cramps). Standalone use is rare in modern Chinese.
memory
Sickness radical + - a sick body part being pulled tight; also gives the pronunciation.

Components

radical
sickness (radical)
Upper-left sickness radical - a person lying on a bed tipped sideways. It indexes in the medical-symptom family alongside illness, ache, epidemic, mad. Marks the whole character as a bodily malady.
phonetic
jīng
underground watercourse
Inside is a 5-stroke contracted form of - the standalone glyph has 7 strokes, here squeezed into a tighter shape. Supplies the sound jīng then jìng with tone shift only. Same phonetic family: to pass through, neck, path, stem.

Stroke Order

jìng