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

老师在监考学生的考试。

Lǎoshī zài jiānkǎo xuésheng de kǎoshì.

The teacher is proctoring the students' exam.

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.

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.