洁 (jié) is a Chinese character meaning “clean”. It is written from 氵 (water (left-side form)) and 吉 (auspicious; lucky), side by side, and takes 9 strokes.
Build the character for “clean”
Four steps: break it apart, build it, recall it, use it in a word.
StartLearn this character
Structure
氵 + 吉
Left–right structure
Structure from: 现代字形构形分析（笔画数据核验：⿰氵吉，3+6=9 画）；只描述今形，不追溯古字来源
Memory aid
Water (氵) on the left, 吉 "lucky" on the right — water lucky enough to have nothing dirty left in it. Clean.
This is a memory aid, not the historical origin.
Stroke order
9 strokes
In real words
- 洁白jié báipure white; spotless洁 = jié
- 洁净jié jìngclean; spotless洁 = jié
- 纯洁chún jiépure; clean; unsullied洁 = jié
Go deeper
All readings
clean
clean; spotless; pure; (of conduct) upright
干净，没有污垢；也指人的品行清白。 — studyhanzi 编写
Words with this reading
- 洁白jié báipure white; spotless洁 = jié
- 洁净jié jìngclean; spotless洁 = jié
- 纯洁chún jiépure; clean; unsullied洁 = jié
Sound component
吉 family rime near
Stroke data: hanzi-writer-data (Arphic Public License) · licenses & attributions
Questions people ask about this character
What does 洁 mean?
洁 (jié) means clean; spotless; pure; (of conduct) upright.
How do you pronounce 洁?
It is pronounced jié.
What parts is 洁 made of?
氵 (water (left-side form)) and 吉 (auspicious; lucky), side by side. The recorded source is: 现代字形构形分析（笔画数据核验：⿰氵吉，3+6=9 画）；只描述今形，不追溯古字来源. Components are the building blocks of the shape; the radical used for dictionary lookup is a separate thing.
How many strokes does 洁 have?
9. You can watch the stroke order on this page, or trace it yourself.
What is the radical of 洁?
氵. 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 洁?
Common ones are 洁白 and 洁净. The reading of 洁 is not the same in every word, so each word on this page shows which reading applies.