睛

jīng
noun #33,064

Meanings

  1. 1 eyeball; eye

Examples

HSK 2
Tā de yǎnjīng hěn piàoliang.
Her eyes are very beautiful.
HSK 6
Tā zhēng dà le yǎnjīng.
He opened his eyes wide.

Tips

usage
睛 is almost exclusively used in 眼睛 (yǎnjīng, eye). Also appears in 目不转睛 (to stare without blinking) and 画龙点睛 (to add the finishing touch).

Components

radical
目 mù
eye
Left eye radical - pictograph of an eye, pupil and lid lines stacked vertically. 睛 specifically names the eyeball or pupil, the focused dark centre of vision. Always pairs with 眼 to make 眼睛, the everyday word for 'eyes' in modern Chinese.
phonetic
青 qīng
blue-green; clear
Right 青 supplies the sound - qīng drifting to jīng via the q/j palatalisation, with the rest of the syllable kept. 青 means the clear blue-green of fresh growth. As phonetic in an eye-character it gives a faint semantic echo: the clear, bright iris - 火眼金睛.

Stroke Order

睛 jīng