漢字Kanji · in Action & Movement
競: emulate, compete with
Also: bid, sell at auction, bout, contest, race
立 carries the meaning · 兄 is drawn in
Four readings, and the words that use each
キョウkyou · on'yomi · in compounds
- 競争するきょうそうするcompete
- 競走するきょうそうするrace [v.i.]
- 競争率きょうそうりつratio of successful (applicants)
- 競技きょうぎgame, match
- 競売きょうばいauction
ケイkei · on'yomi
- 競輪けいりんbicycle racing
- 競馬けいばhorse racing
きそうkisou · kun'yomi · on its own
- 競うきそうcompete, contend
せるseru · kun'yomi
- 競るせるcompete, bid
Also read くらべる, with no example words in our sources. Words: Kanji alive, CC BY 4.0.
Where it comes from
Origin · sourced
Ideogrammic compound (會意)誩 argument + 儿 man + 儿 man
According to Shuowen, an Ideogrammic compound (會意): 誩 (“argument”) + 儿 (“man”) + 儿 (“man”) – two individuals debating vigorously. Also possibly a Phono-semantic compound (形聲): phonetic 誩 + semantic 儿 (“man”) + semantic 儿 (“man”).
Source: Wiktionary, 競 (rev. 91693080), CC BY-SA 4.0
Memory story · made up to help you remember
“Two "stands" (立) + two people (兄 variant). The literal image of two people "standing" side-by-side to "compete" or see who is faster—the essence of a race.”
Connections
Also built on elder brother (兄)
In ChineseSimplified 竞 · traditional, as in Japanese · jìng
Japan keeps the traditional form 競; mainland China simplifies it to 竞.
- Simplified
- 竞 mainland China, Singapore
- Traditional
- 競 Taiwan, Hong Kong
Pinyin jìng most common reading
Forms and pinyin: Unicode Unihan database (Unicode License v3). Pinyin lists the most common reading, not every reading.