HSK 6 · Adjectives

正经 zhèngjing “serious” in Chinese

Traditional 正經

What 正经 means

  1. serious
  2. decent
  3. proper
  4. honourable
  5. according to standards

How to say 正经

  • Pitch chart of the fourth tone: falls from high to low, 5 to 1 on the five-level scale正zhèng4th tone, falling
  • Pitch chart of the neutral tone: short and light, with no contour of its own经jingneutral tone, light and short

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

正经 in a sentence

  1. 没错！这是很正经的事！

    Méicuò! Zhè shì hěn zhèngjing de shì!

    That’s right! This is a serious matter!

    Sentence #1670124 from Tatoeba · converted to simplified characters · translation adapted

How 正经 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 正 (zhèng) with each of its parts in a different colour
正zhèngstraight
  • 一one · yī
  • 止stop · zhǐ

Memory aidPicture a foot 止 heading straight for a line 一: straight, correct.

The character 经 (jīng) drawn as one shape
经jīngclassicslight in 正经

经 is a single shape of 8 strokes. Learn it whole, then watch its stroke order below.

Memory aidSilk 纟: the threads that run lengthwise on a loom. From there, to pass through.

How to write 正经

正 5 strokes · 经 8 strokes

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

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

Words related to 正经

Words with 正

正在zhèngzài · in the process of正常zhèngcháng · regular正确zhèngquè · correct正式zhèngshì · formal真正zhēnzhèng · genuine正好zhènghǎo · just (in time)正zhèng · just (in the middle of doing something)改正gǎizhèng · to correct反正fǎnzhèng · anyway正月zhēngyuè · first month of the lunar year

Words with 经

已经yǐjīng · already经常jīngcháng · often经过jīngguò · to pass经理jīnglǐ · manager经济jīngjì · economy经历jīnglì · experience经验jīngyàn · experience曾经céngjīng · once经典jīngdiǎn · classic经营jīngyíng · to run (a business)

More words: Adjectives

扎实zhāshi · solid镇定zhèndìng · calm正当zhèngdàng · proper正规zhèngguī · formal珍贵zhēnguì · precious郑重zhèngzhòng · serious正宗zhèngzōng · authentic镇静zhènjìng · calm

FAQs

正经 (zhèngjing) means “serious” or “decent”. It is an HSK 6 word.
Say it zhèngjing: zhèng with a 4th tone, then jing 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, 正经 is written 正經. The pronunciation is the same.
Add a Chinese (Simplified) pinyin keyboard to your phone or computer, type zhengjing with no tone marks or spaces, then choose 正经 from the suggestions. Typing zhengjing into this dictionary’s search box finds it too.
正经 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.