HSK 5 · Adjectives

谨慎 jǐnshèn “cautious” in Chinese

Traditional 謹慎

What 谨慎 means

  1. cautious
  2. prudent

How to say 谨慎

  • Pitch chart of the third tone: dips low then rises, 2 to 1 to 4 on the five-level scale谨jǐn3rd tone, dipping
  • Pitch chart of the fourth tone: falls from high to low, 5 to 1 on the five-level scale慎shèn4th tone, falling

谨慎 in a sentence

  1. 选择朋友一定要十分谨慎。

    Xuǎnzé péngyou yídìng yào shífēn jǐnshèn.

    You should choose your friends very carefully.

    Sentence #349295 from Tatoeba

  2. 她很谨慎。

    Tā hěn jǐnshèn.

    She’s very cautious.

    Sentence #775888 from Tatoeba · converted to simplified characters

  3. 这些问题必须谨慎处理。

    Zhèxiē wèntí bìxū jǐnshèn chǔlǐ.

    These problems must be handled carefully.

    Sentence #9501200 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

How 谨慎 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 谨 (jǐn) with each of its parts in a different colour
谨jǐncautious
  • 讠speech form of 言 · yánMeaning part
  • 堇yellow loam · jǐnSound part

讠 hints at the meaning (speech); 堇 (jǐn) hints at the sound. Compare it with jǐn.

The character 慎 (shèn) with each of its parts in a different colour
慎shèncareful
  • 忄heart form of 心 · xīnMeaning part
  • 真real · zhēnSound part

忄 hints at the meaning (heart); 真 (zhēn) hints at the sound. Compare it with shèn.

How to write 谨慎

谨 13 strokes · 慎 13 strokes

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

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

Words related to 谨慎

Words with 慎

More words: Adjectives

FAQs

谨慎 (jǐnshèn) means “cautious” or “prudent”. It is an HSK 5 word.
Say it jǐnshèn: jǐn with a 3rd tone, then shèn with a 4th 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, 谨慎 is written 謹慎. The pronunciation is the same.
Add a Chinese (Simplified) pinyin keyboard to your phone or computer, type jinshen with no tone marks or spaces, then choose 谨慎 from the suggestions. Typing jinshen into this dictionary’s search box finds it too.
谨慎 is an HSK 5 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.