Definitions

jīng Jing River

Etymology phono-semantic

water

Semantic:

About

The character 泾, derived from the traditional 涇, is a phono-semantic compound with the water radical 氵 on the left providing meaning and the phonetic component 巠 on the right indicating sound. In its simplified form, the complex right-hand element was streamlined to 𢀖. It functions as a geographical proper noun for the Jing River, a major Wei River tributary in Shaanxi. This character is central to the idiom "Jing and Wei clearly separated", which alludes to the distinct visual contrast where the clear Jing River meets the muddy Wei River, metaphorically representing a clear distinction between right and wrong, good and bad.

Etymology Hide

Bronze etymology image
Bronze Late Western Zhou (~800 BC)
Bronze etymology image
Bronze Late Western Zhou (~800 BC)
Seal etymology image
Seal Chu (Warring States: 475-221 BC)
Seal etymology image
Seal Shuowen (~100 AD)
Seal etymology image
Seal Western Han dynasty (202 BC-9 AD)
Traditional Modern
Simplified Modern