堇 meaning and stroke order
Yellow loam; clay; season; few
How to write 堇, stroke by stroke
11 strokes in order. Each box adds the next stroke in red. Write top to bottom and left to right, and finish enclosing strokes last.
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- 11
Meaning of 堇
Definitions from CC-CEDICT, grouped by pronunciation.
- clay
- old variant of 僅|仅[jin3]
- violet (plant)
How 堇 is built
Ideographic (compound meaning) character. Yellow 黄 earth 土.
Radical: 土 (soil), shared by 183 characters on this site.
How to remember 堇
堇 (jǐn) is built from 黄 (huáng, yellow) stacked on top of 土 (tǔ, earth). Picture a lump of yellow earth, and you have yellow loam or clay.
On its own, 堇 is rare in modern Chinese. You mostly see it in plant names, especially 堇菜 (jǐncài, violet) and the color word 紫罗兰 relative 堇色 (jǐnsè, violet color). Example: 院子里开着几朵堇菜花。(Yuànzi lǐ kāizhe jǐ duǒ jǐncài huā.) A few violets are blooming in the yard.
Common mistake: Learners often confuse 堇 with 董 (dǒng), which has the grass radical 艹 on top and is a common surname. Also, the top of 堇 is a shortened form of 黄, so do not write the full 黄 with its bottom 八 stroke pair.
Characters that contain 堇
Learning 堇 makes these easier to recognize and write.
Questions about 堇
How many strokes are in 堇?
堇 is written with 11 strokes. The diagrams on this page number every stroke in the order it is written, with the new stroke shown in red.
What does 堇 mean?
堇 (jǐn) means yellow loam; clay; season; few.
How do you pronounce 堇?
堇 is pronounced jǐn, in the third tone (dipping).
What is the radical of 堇?
The radical of 堇 is 土, which carries the idea of "soil". Dictionaries list 堇 under this radical.
What characters use 堇 as a component?
堇 appears as a sound part in several common characters, such as 谨 (jǐn, careful), 勤 (qín, diligent), 仅 in its traditional form 僅 (jǐn, only), and 馑 (jǐn, famine). Spotting 堇 can help you guess that a character sounds like jǐn or qín.
Can 堇 mean only or just in modern Chinese?
Not in modern usage. The dictionary lists 堇 as an old variant of 僅 (仅, jǐn, only), but today you should write 仅, as in 仅仅 (jǐnjǐn, merely).