HSK 6 · Adjectives

机灵 jīling “clever” in Chinese

Traditional 機靈

What 机灵 means

  1. clever
  2. quick-witted
  3. alert
  4. lively

How to say 机灵

  • Pitch chart of the first tone: stays high and level, 5 to 5 on the five-level scale机jī1st tone, high and level
  • Pitch chart of the neutral tone: short and light, with no contour of its own灵lingneutral tone, light and short

Grey pinyin is a neutral tone: say it short and light. More on the neutral tone

机灵 in a sentence

  1. 汤姆真是特别机灵。

    Tāngmǔ zhēn shì tèbié jīling.

    Tom is really quick-witted.

    Sentence #2254052 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

How 机灵 is built

Each colour is one part of the character. Parts repeat across thousands of characters, so learning them makes new words easier. See all 214 in our radicals chart.

The character 机 (jī) with each of its parts in a different colour
机jīmachine; mechanism
  • 木tree · mù
  • 几table · jī

Memory aidA small table 几 made of wood 木: a machine. 几 (jī) also gives the sound.

The character 灵 (líng) with each of its parts in a different colour
灵língquicklight in 机灵
  • 彐snout · jìSound part
  • 火fire · huǒMeaning part

火 hints at the meaning (fire); 彐 (jì) hints at the sound. Compare it with ling.

How to write 机灵

机 6 strokes · 灵 7 strokes

Watch the order, then press Try writing it and draw each stroke in the grid. Each stroke is checked as you go.

机灵 (jīling) stroke order chart: each stroke of the characters in the order you write them
Stroke order chart for 机灵 (jīling). Red marks the next stroke, so you can copy it onto paper one step at a time.

Words related to 机灵

Words with 机

飞机fēijī · aeroplane机场jīchǎng · airport手机shǒujī · mobile phone机票jīpiào · air ticket司机sījī · driver机会jīhuì · opportunity相机xiàngjī · camera耳机ěrjī · headphones关机guānjī · to turn off (a device)开机kāijī · to switch on (a device)

Words with 灵

灵活línghuó · flexible灵敏língmǐn · sensitive心灵xīnlíng · heart灵感línggǎn · inspiration灵魂línghún · soul

More words: Adjectives

极端jíduān · extreme杰出jiéchū · outstanding寂静jìjìng · quiet急剧jíjù · sharp机密jīmì · secret兢兢业业jīngjīngyèyè · conscientious精密jīngmì · precise精确jīngquè · accurate

FAQs

机灵 (jīling) means “clever” or “quick-witted”. It is an HSK 6 word.
Say it jīling: jī with a 1st tone, then ling with a neutral tone. Press Listen at the top of this page to hear it, or Slowly to hear each tone clearly.
In Traditional characters, used in Taiwan and Hong Kong, 机灵 is written 機靈. The pronunciation is the same.
Add a Chinese (Simplified) pinyin keyboard to your phone or computer, type jiling with no tone marks or spaces, then choose 机灵 from the suggestions. Typing jiling into this dictionary’s search box finds it too.
机灵 is an HSK 6 word in the HSK 2.0 word lists.

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Sources: meaning and pinyin checked by a native Mandarin teacher against the official HSK lists. Extra meanings from CC-CEDICT (CC BY-SA 4.0). Example sentences from Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR). Character parts and stroke order from Make Me a Hanzi.