About 经 (jīng) character ...

[thiforums]

I'm a beginner on chinese language and when I was traslating some expressions from cctv.com I found this character:

经 (jīng)

It has many meanings when followed by other characters. Is this any special character? Is there any trick to simplify the memorization of expressions that contains this characracter, or will I need to memorize each expression independently?

For example:

经济 (jīng jì) = economic

经理 (jīng lǐ) = manager, director

[leeyah]

Basic meaning of 经 is books as in《易经》, scriptures] 经籍, classics as in 经学 study of Confucian classics or plain 经典 (which has expanded to the meaning of classical in general terms), but as a verb it means pass, go through. as in 经由 via: 从北京出发经由南京到上海. Go from BJ to Shanghai via Nanjing, where both 经 & 由 have the meaning of pass through, go by way of.

So, IMO if you're looking for rules, basic rule is that you should always watch for the meaning of the character combined with it, which can give you some idea even if you're not sure what the word means as a whole. For example, some technical words used today were translated a long time ago, like words to do with economy & management: 经济 economy, 经理 manager, 经费 expenditure, 经营 business management.

In other examples when 经 is preceding another word it usually means to go through, pass through as in 经过 or 经历 to experience, go through, or 经受 experience, undergo, weather through, etc.

There are also, words like 经常 day-to-day, daily, 经心 careful and 经度 which draw on the meaning of the second word, here they are often, heart (fig pay attention to) & longitude respectively.

You can use dict.cn or nciku to look up more words combined with 经.

[Lu]

You pretty much need to learn each combination with 经 separately.

Generally, learning characters is nice but it's learning words that is important. As you see with 经, knowing the character alone is very little help in understanding the meaning of the word.

Good luck!

[thiforums]

Sorry for the late reply (I got trouble with my cpu)

leeyah, thanks for your very good explanation. Lu, thank you for the tip.

[Hofmann]

[v] classic works; religious scriptures; books of significant value [2] [n] warp of a fabric; things running lengthwise [3] common or customary ways; rules; regulations [4] [v] plan; arrange; regulate; rule; manage; deal in; engage [5] menses [6] human arteries, etc. [7] as a result; after [8] [v] pass through; pass by [9] [v] stand; bear; endure [10] longitude [11] a Chinese family name

Also, Kangxi stuff.

[querido]

Unorganized post by a non-expert:

The definition "continuous string" works well for almost all of the above if understood as referring to system, tradition, continuity. This definition is the one I gather from the ABC via Wenlin.

(It even works for a much harder case, 已经, which is the word I was learning when I first saw this character. To me it is like a case marker signaling "completed-continuing", a grammatical function word that points down a string of time to a point where a verb stopped or was completed. An example: He left already. Lacking a past tense verb form, a function word is used: He completed-some-time-ago leave. Proof that it is performing this function would be that the usual marker (that I'm aware of), 了, is not also needed. Is it? The string, or continuity, contributed by 经 to this word lies in the "some-time-ago". 已 is contributing its meaning of (b.f.) stop. Stop some time ago = already.)

系 refers to a system whose parts are connected. To me, 经 is closely related but specifies a linear connection or process.

"books": 1. string of bamboo slats 2. source of tradition, continuity > heritage > intellectual lineage

"via": movement with some pathway (line) specified

Of the examples given in this thread, the hardest one looks like 经济 = "economic" (looks to me like "continuing system of help"), but it's only the 济 part that is unclear. The 经= continuing system seems reasonable.