京 (jīng) is a Chinese character meaning “capital city”. It is written from 亠 (lid) and 口 (mouth) and 小 (small), and takes 8 strokes.
Build the character for “capital city”
Four steps: break it apart, build it, recall it, use it in a word.
StartLearn this character
Structure
亠 + 口 + 小
Top–middle–bottom structure
Structure from: IDS ⿳亠口小 (Unicode 表意文字描述序列)，与 hanzi-writer-data 笔画数 2+3+3=8 核验一致。仅描述现代字形，各部件的来源与造字理据未确认
Memory aid
A lid (亠) on top, a mouth (口) in the middle, and something small (小) at the bottom — a tall gate-tower you look up at from far away: the capital, 京.
This is a memory aid, not the historical origin.
Stroke order
8 strokes
In real words
- 北京běi jīngBeijing (capital of China)京 = jīng
- 京城jīng chéngthe capital city京 = jīng
- 京剧jīng jùPeking opera京 = jīng
Go deeper
All readings
capital city
capital city; short for Beijing
国家的首都；也用作北京的简称。 — studyhanzi 编写
Words with this reading
- 北京běi jīngBeijing (capital of China)京 = jīng
- 京城jīng chéngthe capital city京 = jīng
- 京剧jīng jùPeking opera京 = jīng
Stroke data: hanzi-writer-data (Arphic Public License) · licenses & attributions
Questions people ask about this character
What does 京 mean?
京 (jīng) means capital city; short for Beijing.
How do you pronounce 京?
It is pronounced jīng.
What parts is 京 made of?
亠 (lid) and 口 (mouth) and 小 (small). The recorded source is: IDS ⿳亠口小 (Unicode 表意文字描述序列)，与 hanzi-writer-data 笔画数 2+3+3=8 核验一致。仅描述现代字形，各部件的来源与造字理据未确认. Components are the building blocks of the shape; the radical used for dictionary lookup is a separate thing.
How many strokes does 京 have?
8. You can watch the stroke order on this page, or trace it yourself.
What is the radical of 京?
亠. 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 京?
Common ones are 北京 and 京城. The reading of 京 is not the same in every word, so each word on this page shows which reading applies.