How to Write 鲸 (jīng) — Meaning “Whale”

Imagine a giant whale swimming in the ocean, and on its back there is a capital city (京 means ‘capital’). The fish radical (鱼) on the left reminds you it’s a sea animal, and the capital on its back suggests it is the ‘king of fish’ because it is so large. This links the shape and pinyin jīng to the meaning ‘whale’.

Write the left radical 鱼 first (strokes: left, horizontal, horizontal, vertical, horizontal fold, horizontal, horizontal), then the right part 京 (top dot, horizontal, vertical, horizontal fold, horizontal, small vertical hook, two small dots). The whole character is wide, so keep the left part narrow and the right part balanced. A common mistake is making the left radical too small or forgetting the bottom horizontal in 鱼.

鲸 (jīng, whale) has the phonetic 京, while 鲑 (guī, salmon) has 圭, and 鲒 (jié, a type of clam) has 吉. Visually, the right half changes the meaning: 鲸 refers to the large marine mammal, 鲑 is a specific fish (salmon), and 鲒 is a shellfish. The pronunciations are also different, so the right side acts as a sound clue.

鲸 mostly appears in words like 鲸鱼 (whale), 蓝鲸 (blue whale), and 看鲸鱼 (whale watching). In modern Chinese, it is used in science, environmental discussions, and tourism. Culturally, whales are admired for their size and intelligence, and expressions like 鲸吞 (swallow like a whale) mean to annex or consume greedily.

Common words containing 鲸 include: 鲸鱼 (jīng yú) — Whale; 蓝鲸 (lán jīng) — blue whale; 看鲸鱼 (kàn jīng yú) — whale watching.