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eyeball (in 眼睛)

jīng
13 strokes · 目 (eye radical) + 青 (green/azure, sound qīng→jīng) · HSK 2

Where 睛 comes from

睛 is the eye 目 plus 青 for sound: the eyeball itself, the wet bright center of seeing. It almost never travels alone — 眼睛 pairs the socket (眼) with the ball (睛).

睛 in Chinese culture

画龙点睛 'painting the dragon, dotting the eye': the artist Zhang Sengyou left his painted dragons eyeless, warning they'd fly away if finished. Forced to dot two pairs, those dragons burst off the wall. The idiom now means the finishing touch that brings everything to life.

Example

眼睛 yǎnjing — eyes

她的眼睛很大。
Tā de yǎnjing hěn dà.
Her eyes are very big.

How to remember it

The bright 青 center of the eye 目 — the EYEBALL.

火眼金睛 'fiery eyes, golden pupils' — the Monkey King's see-through-any-disguise vision, earned inside a furnace — is now slang for anyone who spots fakes instantly.

Same sound, different tones

1st jīng
eyeball
3rd jǐng
well
4th jìng
quiet

Words unlocked by 睛

眼睛 yǎnjing
eyes
大眼睛 dà yǎnjing
big eyes
画龙点睛 huàlóng-diǎnjīng
the finishing touch

Related characters

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