How to Write 净 (jìng) — Meaning “clean; pure”

Imagine 'ice' (冫) standing between two 'fighting' sides (争) to bring peace and purity. Or think of a 'clean' result after a 'struggle' (争) with dirt—using ice to scrub things spotless.

Write the left radical 冫 as two small dots, then the right part 争: start with the top left 'w' shape, then the middle horizontal strokes, and finish with the bottom vertical hook. A common mistake is making the right side too wide or forgetting the final hook stroke.

冰 (bīng) means 'ice' and is a standalone noun, while 净 focuses on cleanliness or purity as an adjective/verb. 冱 (hù) is a rare character meaning 'frozen' or 'cold', used in ancient texts, whereas 净 is common in daily vocabulary like 干净 (clean).

净 appears frequently in everyday words such as 干净 (clean) for describing tidy places or people, and 净化 (to purify) for cleaning air, water, or the mind. In business terms, 净重 means 'net weight' on product labels. It is a very useful HSK 1 character for basic communication.

Common words containing 净 include: 干净 (gān jìng) — clean / neat; 净化 (jìng huà) — to purify; 净重 (jìng zhòng) — net weight.