惊 jīng to start; to be frightened; to be scared
Made up of [忄 xīn heart radical 61, 京 jīng capital ]Alternative traditional form of character: 驚
Made with 11 strokes.
Combined heart radical with what used to be a frightened horse now replaced by homophone jing for capital city
Related characters
Also uses 忄 xīn component: 懂 dǒng (to understand) 悔 huǐ (to regret) ; 快 kuài (rapid) ; 怜 lián (to pity) ; 忙 máng (busy) ; 怕 pà (to be afraid) ; 情 qíng (affection) ; 忆 yì (to recollect)
Also uses 京 jīng component: 景 jǐng (bright) 就 jiù (at once) ; 凉 liáng (cool) ; 影 yǐng (picture)
Sounds same
京 jīng (capital) ; 精 jīng (refined) ; 经 jīng (Classic) ; 睛 jīng (eye)Different tone
井 jǐng ; 井 jǐng (well) ; 景 jǐng (bright)Pronunciation
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Proverbs
打草惊蛇 dǎ cǎo jīng shé It is unwise to alert an enemy of your presence一鸣惊人 yī míng jīng rén To rise to stardom overnight. Discovering an unknown talent. The story is of an Emperor who kept a bird that did not fly or sing and people wondered why he kept it. One day the Emperor rose to meritorious action surprising everyone
惊弓之鸟 jīng gōng zhī niǎo Someone who is easily frightened especially if triggered by a previous bad experience. The story is of a great archer who claimed he could shoot a goose out of the sky without releasing an arrow. He then twanged the bow and a goose did fall to the ground. The goose showed signs of a previous arrow injury and had died of fright.