Learn Chinese Characters

Pinyin Syllable

Chinese characters pronounced xing

Learn common Chinese characters pronounced xing, including 行 xíng, 性 xìng, 形 xíng, 兴 xīng / xìng, 星 xīng. Compare tones, meanings, traditional forms, words…

How to Pronounce This Syllable

xing raises the front of the tongue for x, then opens into ing; keep it light and joined, with the tone over the whole syllable.

Initial x

A light, forward hissing sound.

Final ing

Settle the final ing into a steady mouth shape first, then lay the tone on top.

Study Tip

Start with the most common characters (行 xíng, 性 xìng, 形 xíng, 兴 xīng / xìng, 星 xīng) and lock in their tones. 12 common characters share the sound xing, so lean on words to tell the rest apart.

Learn by Tone

xing turns up here with 4 different tones; a change of tone usually means a different character, so the groups below are split by tone.

1st tone

Taking the 1st tone here: 兴, 星, 猩 (3 in total). Lock this tone in your ear before the meaning.

2nd tone

Taking the 2nd tone here: 行, 形, 型… (4 in total). Lock this tone in your ear before the meaning.

3rd tone

Taking the 3rd tone here: 省, 醒 (2 in total). Lock this tone in your ear before the meaning.

4th tone

Taking the 4th tone here: 性, 幸, 姓 (3 in total). Lock this tone in your ear before the meaning.

Common Words With This Sound

Seeing xing inside whole words makes it clear which character is meant — here are common ones.

Characters

12 common characters in this group.