TraceHanzi

竟 meaning and stroke order

jìng

Unexpectedly; actually; to go so far as to

HSK 411 strokesRadical 立
Strokes11
Pinyinjìng
ToneTone 4
Frequency#814
Printable worksheetPractice all HSK 4 characters

How to write 竟, 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.

  1. 1
  2. 2
  3. 3
  4. 4
  5. 5
  6. 6
  7. 7
  8. 8
  9. 9
  10. 10
  11. 11

Meaning of 竟

Definitions from CC-CEDICT, grouped by pronunciation.

jìngfourth tone (falling)
  1. unexpectedly
  2. actually
  3. to go so far as to
  4. indeed

How 竟 is built

Ideographic (compound meaning) character. A person 儿 finishing a musical piece 音.

yīnsound+érson

Radical: 立 (to stand), shared by 14 characters on this site.

How to remember 竟

竟 is 音 (yīn, sound or music) sitting on top of 儿, a pair of legs standing for a person. Picture a person who has played a piece of music 音 all the way to the end, so the idea is reaching the end, and from there 'after all' or 'it turned out'.

竟 is mostly used as an adverb meaning 'unexpectedly' or 'actually', often in the longer form 竟然 (jìngrán). It also appears in 究竟 (jiūjìng) and 毕竟 (bìjìng), both meaning 'after all'. Example: 他竟然忘了我的生日。(Tā jìngrán wàng le wǒ de shēngrì.) He actually forgot my birthday.

Common mistake: Learners often confuse 竟 with 境 (jìng, border, situation) and 镜 (jìng, mirror), which share the same sound and the 竟 part. 竟 by itself has no side radical, and it is a surprise adverb, not a noun.

Common words with 竟

Ordered by HSK level, then by how often they appear in everyday Chinese.

WordPinyinMeaningLevel
究竟jiūjìngto go to the bottom of a matter; after allHSK 4
竟然jìngránunexpectedly; to one's surpriseHSK 4
毕竟bìjìngafter all; all in allHSK 5
竟敢jìnggǎnto have the impertinence; to have the cheek toHSK 7-9

竟 in example sentences

Real sentences from the Tatoeba project, with pinyin and English.

很hěn奇qí怪guài肯kěn竟jìng然rán没méi有yǒu同tóng意yì我wǒ们men。
It's strange that Ken doesn't agree with us.
你nǐ竟jìng敢gǎn这zhè样yàng和hé我wǒ说shuō话huà？
How dare you speak like that to me?
他tā竟jìng然rán还huán给gěi我wǒ装zhuāng傻shǎ。
Despite everything he is still playing dumb.
他tā毕bì竟jìng是shì那nà个ge时shí代dài的de人rén。
He's a product of his time.
毕bì竟jìng，这zhè家jiā伙huo有yǒu一yī次cì想xiǎng杀shā我wǒ爸bà。
After all, this is a guy that tried to kill my dad at one time.

Characters that contain 竟

Learning 竟 makes these easier to recognize and write.

境jìngboundary镜jìngmirror鏡jìngmirror

Questions about 竟

How many strokes are in 竟?

竟 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 竟 mean?

竟 (jìng) means unexpectedly; actually; to go so far as to. A common word with it is 究竟 (jiūjìng), meaning "to go to the bottom of a matter; after all".

How do you pronounce 竟?

竟 is pronounced jìng, in the fourth tone (falling).

What is the radical of 竟?

The radical of 竟 is 立, which carries the idea of "to stand". Dictionaries list 竟 under this radical.

Is 竟 on the HSK exam?

Yes. 竟 is part of the HSK 4 character list in the HSK 3.0 standard, and you are expected to write it by hand from HSK 3.

What is the difference between 竟然 and 居然?

Both mean 'unexpectedly' or 'to one's surprise' and are usually interchangeable. 居然 (jūrán) sounds a little more casual in speech, while 竟然 is common in both speech and writing.

How is 究竟 used in questions?

究竟 adds a sense of pressing for the real answer, like 'exactly' or 'on earth'. For example, 你究竟想要什么？(Nǐ jiūjìng xiǎng yào shénme?) means 'What exactly do you want?'

Keep going

究Previous in HSK 4jiū