How to Write 睛 (jīng) — Meaning “Eye; eyeball.”

Think of the left side 目 as a square eye, and the right side 青 as the blue or clear part of the eye. You can imagine a clear blue eyeball — the 'eye' (目) is 'clear' (青) like the sky.

The left radical 目 must be narrow; its vertical strokes should be straight and evenly spaced. A common mistake is to make the top of 青 too wide — remember the top part (⽣ without the bottom horizontal) is narrow, and the bottom 月 should align under it.

睛 has 青 on the right, meaning 'eyeball.' 眦 (zì) has 此 on the right, meaning 'corner of the eye.' 眭 (suī) has 圭 on the right, and is rarely used in modern Chinese except as a surname. Just focus on the right-side component to distinguish them.

睛 is most common in the word 眼睛 (yǎnjīng) meaning 'eye.' It also appears in the idiom 画龙点睛 (huà lóng diǎn jīng), which means to add a crucial finishing touch—literally 'dot the eye on a painted dragon.' This idiom comes from a famous story about a painter who brought a dragon to life by adding its eyes.

Common words containing 睛 include: 眼睛 (yǎn jīng) — eye; 眨眼睛 (zhǎ yǎn jīng) — to blink one's eyes; 画龙点睛 (huà lóng diǎn jīng) — To add the finishing touch (idiom).