Learn Chinese Characters

Meaning

to see; to meet; to appear (to be sth); to interview; appear

Chinese: 看见、会见或见解。

Hear the Four Tones

The same syllable “jian” becomes a different word in each tone. 见 is the 4th tone. Tap any tone to hear a native voice and see its pitch shape.

Stroke Order

Tap Animate to watch the strokes in order, or Practice to trace it yourself.

Common Words

  • 看见kàn jiànto see; to catch sight of
  • 见面jiàn miànto meet; to see each other
  • 再见zài jiàngoodbye; see you again later
  • 听见tīng jiànto hear
  • 见到jiàn dàoto see

Example Sentence

很高兴见到你。Hěn gāo xìng jiàn dào nǐ.Nice to see you.

Hěnvery高兴gāo xìnghappy见到jiàn dàoto seeyou

Go deeper

Where this character comes from

An eye (目) above a pair of legs (儿): a person with the eye singled out — the act of ‘seeing’. Simplified from 見.

A way to remember it

A person whose big eye is doing the looking — to see.

Easy to confuse with

  • bèi‘Shell / money’: the same legs, but a 目-like top that stands for a cowrie shell.