荆 (jīng) is a Chinese character meaning “chaste tree (Vitex)”. It is written from 艹 (grass / plant radical) and 开 (to open) and 刂 (knife (side form)), side by side, and takes 9 strokes.
Build the character for “thorn bush; brambles”
Four steps: break it apart, build it, recall it, use it in a word.
StartLearn this character
Structure
艹 + 开 + 刂
Left–right structure
Structure from: 说文解字·艸部：荆，楚木也。从艸刑聲（现代字形右旁 刑 由 开、刂 组成；hanzi-writer-data 笔画核验：0-2 艹 / 3-6 开 / 7-8 刂）
Memory aid
A thicket of plants (艹) so dense that you need a knife (刂) to open (开) a path through it — that is the thorn bush 荆.
This is a memory aid, not the historical origin.
Stroke order
9 strokes
In real words
- 荆棘jīng jíthorns and brambles; thorny difficulties荆 = jīng
- 紫荆zǐ jīngChinese redbud (Cercis chinensis)荆 = jīng
Go deeper
All readings
thorn bush; chaste tree
chaste tree (Vitex); a thorny shrub, brambles; by extension, hardship; Jing, an old name for the state of Chu
一类丛生的灌木，枝条多刺，古称楚木；引申指困难险阻，也是古代楚国的别称。 — studyhanzi 编写
Words with this reading
- 荆棘jīng jíthorns and brambles; thorny difficulties荆 = jīng
- 紫荆zǐ jīngChinese redbud (Cercis chinensis)荆 = jīng
Stroke data: hanzi-writer-data (Arphic Public License) · licenses & attributions
Questions people ask about this character
What does 荆 mean?
荆 (jīng) means chaste tree (Vitex); a thorny shrub, brambles; by extension, hardship; Jing, an old name for the state of Chu.
How do you pronounce 荆?
It is pronounced jīng.
What parts is 荆 made of?
艹 (grass / plant radical) and 开 (to open) and 刂 (knife (side form)), side by side. The recorded source is: 说文解字·艸部：荆，楚木也。从艸刑聲（现代字形右旁 刑 由 开、刂 组成；hanzi-writer-data 笔画核验：0-2 艹 / 3-6 开 / 7-8 刂）. Components are the building blocks of the shape; the radical used for dictionary lookup is a separate thing.
How many strokes does 荆 have?
9. You can watch the stroke order on this page, or trace it yourself.
What is the radical of 荆?
艸. 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 荆?
Common ones are 荆棘 and 紫荆. The reading of 荆 is not the same in every word, so each word on this page shows which reading applies.