TongTong
Sign in

洁净 (jié jìng) — clean, pristine (formal or written style)

Definition

A formal, written adjective for 'clean, pristine' — stronger and more literary than the everyday 清洁, and used more for environments than for people (unlike 纯洁, which is moral/emotional).

adjective
cleanpristine (formal or written style)
Easily confused

Examples

  • 洁净。
    Shí yàn shì bì xū bǎo chí jié jìng.
    The laboratory must be kept clean.
  • 洁净。
    Zhè jiā yī yuàn de bìng fáng fēi cháng jié jìng.
    The wards in this hospital are very clean.
  • 洁净。
    Zhè xiē shū cài jīng guò qīng xǐ hòu biàn de jié jìng.
    These vegetables became clean after being washed.

Origin

Compound word
构词法gòucífǎ
联合liánhéCoordinate

Two parts of equal weight, alike or opposite in meaning, standing side by side.

洁jiéclean
净jìngclean

Both 洁 and 净 mean clean, so together they emphasize cleanliness.

Characters in this word

Most characters — around four in five — are built this way: one part hints at the meaning, the other at the pronunciation.

This origin belongs to the traditional form 潔; 洁 is its simplified writing.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
氵Written in full as水shuǐwater
Sound part声符shēngfú
絜
絜jié潔jié
Same sound today

The traditional form 潔 pairs 氵, a water part, with 絜, which gives the sound; the simplified 洁 is a later abbreviation.

Open 洁 →

No reliable origin is recorded for this character.

Open 净 →
Appears in
HSK 3.0 Level 7-9Good & Bad

Browse more HSK 7-9 words or search the full 43,000-word dictionary.