青 (qīng) is a Chinese character meaning “blue-green (the colour range covering sky-blue, grass-green”. It is written from 龶 (three horizontal strokes crossed by a short vertical that stops at the last stroke) and 月 (moon; month), one above the other, and takes 8 strokes.
Build the character for “blue-green”
Four steps: break it apart, build it, recall it, use it in a word.
StartLearn this character
Structure
龶 + 月
Top–bottom structure
- 龶 three horizontal strokes crossed by a short vertical that stops at the last stroke unknown
- 月 moon; month · yuè unknown
Structure from: modern-glyph decomposition verified against hanzi-writer-data strokes (4 + 4 = 8)
Memory aid
Three stacked lines pinned by one vertical (龶) resting on 月. Both shapes are really in this character — picture plants pinned to the earth above, growing month after month (月) into fresh blue-green.
This is a memory aid, not the historical origin.
Stroke order
8 strokes
In real words
- 青年qīng niányoung people; a young person; youth青 = qīng
- 沥青lì qīngasphalt; bitumen; pitch青 = qīng
- 丹青dān qīngtraditional Chinese painting; the art of painting青 = qīng
- 青苔qīng táigreen moss青 = qīng
- 青铜qīng tóngbronze青 = qīng
Go deeper
All readings
blue-green
blue-green (the colour range covering sky-blue, grass-green and blue-black); young; fresh
介于蓝与绿之间的颜色，也可指黑色；引申指年轻的、初生的。 — studyhanzi 编写
Words with this reading
- 青年qīng niányoung people; a young person; youth青 = qīng
- 沥青lì qīngasphalt; bitumen; pitch青 = qīng
- 丹青dān qīngtraditional Chinese painting; the art of painting青 = qīng
- 青苔qīng táigreen moss青 = qīng
- 青铜qīng tóngbronze青 = qīng
Stroke data: hanzi-writer-data (Arphic Public License) · licenses & attributions
Questions people ask about this character
What does 青 mean?
青 (qīng) means blue-green (the colour range covering sky-blue, grass-green and blue-black); young; fresh.
How do you pronounce 青?
It is pronounced qīng.
What parts is 青 made of?
龶 (three horizontal strokes crossed by a short vertical that stops at the last stroke) and 月 (moon; month), one above the other. The recorded source is: modern-glyph decomposition verified against hanzi-writer-data strokes (4 + 4 = 8). Components are the building blocks of the shape; the radical used for dictionary lookup is a separate thing.
How many strokes does 青 have?
8. You can watch the stroke order on this page, or trace it yourself.
What is the radical of 青?
青. 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 青?
Common ones are 青年 and 沥青. The reading of 青 is not the same in every word, so each word on this page shows which reading applies.