Kilo Lingo

(jìn) - to exhaust, to use up; to the utmost, to the full; the end, the limit in Mandarin

jìn

Traditional: 盡

#2101 of 5,000 Core 5000

Translation

to exhaust, to use up; to the utmost, to the full; the end, the limit

Word origin

Simplified from 盡, which showed 聿 (yù, a hand holding a brush) scraping out an empty vessel 皿 (mǐn, dish), hence used up and finished.

Origin
other
Root
盡: 聿 (yù, hand with brush) + 皿 (mǐn, vessel)

Stroke order

Stroke order for 尽

Examples

He did his very best.

His money ran out.

I will help you all I can.

Let everyone enjoy themselves to the full tonight.

You cannot see the end of the road ahead.

尽 means finished to the last drop. As a verb it is to exhaust or to discharge fully: 尽力 (do one's utmost), 尽责 (do one's duty), 尽我所能 (all I can). As a resultative ending on another verb it means the action ran the thing dry: 用尽 (used up), 吃尽苦头 (went through every hardship).

The noun sense is the limit or end point, which gives 尽头 (the far end of a road or corridor) and 无尽 (endless). Same idea, different grammatical hat.

The trap is that this character has a second reading, jǐn, with a rather different job: 尽快 (as soon as possible), 尽量 (as far as possible), 尽管 (although, go right ahead). Those are all third tone, not fourth. If the word means "as much as you can" you are probably looking at jǐn; if it means "used up" or "to the utmost", it is jìn.

Where this fits

Used in

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Mandarin · Free printables

尽: worksheet, infographic and listicle

Free printable study downloads for the Mandarin word "尽" (to exhaust, to use up; to the utmost, to the full; the end, the limit): a worksheet with the answer key built in, an infographic, and a sentence listicle. Open any one to view, print or save.

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This word is part of lesson 43.