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皎皎

jiǎojiǎo
adjective

Meanings

  1. 1 bright and clear
  2. 2 luminous (especially of the moon)
  3. 3 pure white
  4. 4 spotless

Examples

HSK 7-9
皎皎明月当空照。
Jiǎojiǎo míngyuè dāng kōng zhào.
The bright moon shines high in the sky.
HSK 7-9
她有一颗皎皎之心。
Tā yǒu yī kē jiǎojiǎo zhī xīn.
She has a pure and unblemished heart.

Tips

history
Famous from the Han-dynasty 古诗十九首 ('Nineteen Old Poems'): 迢迢牵牛星，皎皎河汉女 ('Far, far away the Cowherd Star, bright, bright the Maid of the Milky Way'), the canonical depiction of the Cowherd-and-Weaving-Maid legend. The doubled adjective is a classical poetic device for vividness.
register
Distinctly literary. Modern prose uses the single character 皎 only in compounds like 皎洁 (bright and clean); the doubled form 皎皎 stays in poetry and lyrical writing.

Stroke Order

皎 jiǎo