监 (jiān): to supervise; to oversee

Meanings

1 to supervise; to oversee
2 to inspect; to monitor
3 prison; jail

Characters

监

jiān

to supervise; to inspect

Examples

HSK 1

老师在监考学生的考试。

Lǎoshī zài jiānkǎo xuésheng de kǎoshì.

The teacher is proctoring the students' exam.

HSK 4

政府加强了对市场的监管。

Zhèngfǔ jiāqiáng le duì shìchǎng de jiānguǎn.

The government has stepped up oversight of the market.

HSK 7-9

工地安装了监控摄像头防止事故。

Gōngdì ānzhuāng le jiānkòng shèxiàngtóu fángzhǐ shìgù.

Surveillance cameras were installed at the worksite to prevent accidents.

Tips

history

The original picture: someone leaning over a water-filled basin to see their own reflection - the world's first mirror. From 'looking into the bowl' grew the modern jiān senses of inspecting and supervising (监督, 监视) and the prison sense (监狱, a place under constant watch). The separate jiàn reading names old imperial offices.

Components

radical

皿 mǐn

vessel; dish

The bottom indexing radical 皿 is a four-legged vessel viewed from the side. It anchors the basin in the original scene - a person leaning over a water-filled bowl to catch their reflection - from which the inspecting and supervising senses grew. Same radical sits under 盆 (basin) and 盘 (plate).

semantic

临 lín

to look down at; oversee (top portion, fused)

The top five strokes are a fused, contracted form of the upper half of traditional 監 - historically 臣 (an eye looking down) plus a kneeling-person mark. Simplification lost the separable pieces but kept the meaning: a supervisor bending over to inspect.