讲 (jiǎng): to speak

Meanings

1 to speak
2 to explain
3 to tell

Characters

讲

jiǎng

to speak; to explain; to tell

Examples

HSK 1

老师在讲课。

Lǎoshī zài jiǎngkè.

The teacher is giving a lecture.

HSK 1

请你讲慢一点。

Qǐng nǐ jiǎng màn yīdiǎn.

Please speak more slowly.

HSK 2

奶奶给我讲故事。

Nǎinai gěi wǒ jiǎng gùshi.

Grandma tells me stories.

Tips

usage

讲 vs 说: 讲 is used more for explaining or telling (讲故事, 讲道理). 说 is more general for speaking/saying.

usage

讲 is preferred in southern Chinese dialects where 说 might sound too northern.

Components

radical

讠 yán

speech (radical form of 言)

Speech radical on the left is the simplified side-form of 言. It indexes 讲 in the speaking family alongside 说 to say, 论 to discuss, 谈 to chat, 谢 to thank. The radical sets the topic - language coming out of the mouth - and the right side specifies which mode: here, structured explanation.

phonetic

井 jǐng

well (here phonetic)

Right side is 井 'well' - the pictograph of a wooden well-frame. It supplies the sound - jǐng drifting to jiǎng with tone shift. The simplified 讲 is a heavy reduction of the traditional 講 (which had 冓 on the right, a 14-stroke graph of woven beams). The reform borrowed 井 purely for its sound; no semantic claim survives in the modern form.