泾

涇

jīng

氵 + 𢀖

Definitions

jīng Jing River

Etymology phono-semantic

water

Semantic: 氵

About

The simplified character 泾 derives from traditional 涇, a phono-semantic compound that originally combined the water radical 氵 on the left with the phonetic component 巠 on the right. Simplification replaced the complex phonetic with 𢀖 to reduce strokes, and today, 泾 functions solely as a proper noun naming the Jing River, a major tributary of the Wei River in Shaanxi province. It is best known from the idiom "Jing and Wei clearly separated", which refers to the clear Jing River meeting the muddy Wei River as a metaphor for a stark distinction between right and wrong.