井 (jǐng) is a Chinese character meaning “a well (for drawing water)”. It is written from 一 (one) and 一 (one) and 丿 (left-falling stroke) and 丨 (vertical stroke), and takes 4 strokes.
Build the character for “well”
Four steps: break it apart, build it, recall it, use it in a word.
StartLearn this character
Structure
一 + 一 + 丿 + 丨
Overlapping structure
Structure from: Unicode U+4E95; modern glyph stroke decomposition checked against hanzi-writer-data 2.0.1 stroke geometry
Memory aid
Two rails (一 above, 一 below) are crossed by 丿 on the left and 丨 on the right — a wooden frame built over an opening in the ground.
This is a memory aid, not the historical origin.
Stroke order
4 strokes
In real words
- 水井shuǐ jǐngwater well井 = jǐngspoken asshuí jǐng
- 井口jǐng kǒuthe mouth of a well; wellhead井 = jǐngspoken asjíng kǒu
Go deeper
All readings
well
a well (for drawing water); a shaft or pit; something laid out in a neat grid
从地面向下挖成、用来取水的洞；也指形状像井的东西。 — studyhanzi 编写
Words with this reading
- 水井shuǐ jǐngwater well井 = jǐngspoken asshuí jǐng
- 井口jǐng kǒuthe mouth of a well; wellhead井 = jǐngspoken asjíng kǒu
Stroke data: hanzi-writer-data (Arphic Public License) · licenses & attributions
Questions people ask about this character
What does 井 mean?
井 (jǐng) means a well (for drawing water); a shaft or pit; something laid out in a neat grid.
How do you pronounce 井?
It is pronounced jǐng.
What parts is 井 made of?
一 (one) and 一 (one) and 丿 (left-falling stroke) and 丨 (vertical stroke). The recorded source is: Unicode U+4E95; modern glyph stroke decomposition checked against hanzi-writer-data 2.0.1 stroke geometry. Components are the building blocks of the shape; the radical used for dictionary lookup is a separate thing.
How many strokes does 井 have?
4. You can watch the stroke order on this page, or trace it yourself.
What is the radical of 井?
二. The radical is how the character is filed in a dictionary — it is not the whole story of how the character is built.
What words use 井?
Common ones are 水井 and 井口. The reading of 井 is not the same in every word, so each word on this page shows which reading applies.