Meaning of 青
Definitions from CC-CEDICT.
- green
- blue
- black
- youth
- young (of people)
- short name for Qinghai 青海[Qing1 hai3]
How to use 青
On its own, 青 describes a range of natural colors from green to blue-green to dark blue, and it often appears in fixed phrases like 青山 (qīngshān, green hills). It is very common in words about youth, such as 青年 and 青春. Example: 他还很年青。 (Tā hái hěn niánqīng.) He is still very young.
Picture the top of 青 (qīng) as a young plant sprouting up, and the bottom 月 shape as the moon shining on it. Fresh green plants are young, so 青 covers both the color of new growth and youth itself.
Common mistake: Learners often confuse 青 with 清 (qīng, clear) and 请 (qǐng, please), which share the same 青 part plus a water or speech radical. Also note that 年轻 (niánqīng) is the standard spelling for young today, while 年青 is a less common variant.
青 in example sentences
Real sentences from the Tatoeba project, with pinyin and English.
Stroke order for each character
Open a character for its meaning, components and more words.
青 qīng · green · 8 strokes
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Related words
Words that share a character with 青.
| 青年 | qīngnián | youth; youthful years |
| 青少年 | qīng-shàonián | adolescent; youth |
| 青春 | qīngchūn | youth; youthfulness |
| 青蛙 | qīngwā | frog (CL:隻|只[zhi1]); (old) (slang) ugly guy |
| 青春期 | qīngchūnqī | puberty; adolescence |
| 万古长青 | wàngǔ-chángqīng | (idiom) enduring through the ages; ever-flourishing |
| 刺青 | cìqīng | to tattoo; a tattoo |
| 年青 | niánqīng | youthful |
| 青睐 | qīnglài | (literary) (lit.) to fix one's gaze on; (fig.) to show interest in; (favorable) attention; |
| 青梅竹马 | qīngméizhúmǎ | lit. green plums and hobby-horse (idiom); fig. innocent children's games |
| 青椒 | qīngjiāo | Capsicum annuum; green pepper |
| 淤青 | yūqīng | bruise; contusion |
Questions about 青
What does 青 mean?
青 (qīng) means "green; blue" and is used as a adjective.
How do you write 青?
青 is made of 1 character: 青 (8 strokes). That is 8 strokes in total.
Is 青 an HSK word?
Yes. 青 is on the HSK 5 vocabulary list of the HSK 3.0 standard.
Is 青 green or blue?
It can be either, plus a dark blue-black, depending on the word. 青草 (qīngcǎo) is green grass, 青天 (qīngtiān) is blue sky, and 青丝 (qīngsī) means black hair in literary Chinese. For everyday color words, people usually say 绿 (lǜ) for green and 蓝 (lán) for blue.
Why is 青 used as a short name for Qinghai?
Chinese provinces have one-character abbreviations, and 青 is the abbreviation for 青海 (Qīnghǎi), the province named after its large blue-green lake. You may see it on Qinghai license plates or in news headlines.