眼睛
eye
yǎnjing
What does 眼睛 mean?
眼睛 (yǎnjing) is the standard Chinese word for 'eye(s)' — the body part you see with. Note that the second character is pronounced with a neutral tone (jing, not jīng). Chinese doesn't grammatically distinguish singular from plural, so 眼睛 can mean 'eye' or 'eyes' depending on context; to be specific, use measure words: 一只眼睛 ('one eye'), 一双眼睛 ('a pair of eyes'). Common collocations: 大眼睛 ('big eyes,' often a compliment), 闭上眼睛 ('close your eyes'), 睁开眼睛 ('open your eyes'). Note that the body part takes 眼睛, but related compounds drop 睛: 眼镜 ('glasses') uses 眼镜 (jìng = mirror/lens), not 眼睛. The single character 眼 alone means 'eye' but rarely stands by itself in modern speech — it appears in 眼泪 (tears), 眼神 (gaze), 眼光 (vision/insight).
Character breakdown
eye; 目 (eye) radical + 艮 phonetic
eyeball; pupil (here neutral tone in 眼睛)
Memory hook: Both characters have the eye radical 目 on the left — two 'eye' characters together for the body part you see with.
Measure word for 眼睛
Example sentences
她的眼睛很大。
Tā de yǎnjing hěn dà.
Her eyes are very big.
neutral
请闭上眼睛。
Qǐng bì shàng yǎnjing.
Please close your eyes.
polite
我的眼睛有点疼。
Wǒ de yǎnjing yǒu diǎn téng.
My eyes hurt a little.
spoken
看电脑太久眼睛会累。
Kàn diànnǎo tài jiǔ yǎnjing huì lèi.
Looking at a computer too long makes the eyes tired.
neutral
Common phrases with 眼睛
Hear it in real Fluentide episodes
眼睛 appears in 1 podcast episode at natural native speed, with full Chinese script, pinyin, and line-by-line English translation.
Synonyms
眼 alone is the bound, more literary form. It appears in compounds (眼泪 'tears,' 眼光 'vision') and in fixed expressions, but on its own to mean 'eye' it sounds bookish. 眼睛 is what you say in normal speech.
Don't confuse 眼睛 with
眼镜 = 'glasses / spectacles' (the eyewear). Note 镜 (mirror/lens) replaces 睛, and the tone is jìng (4th tone), not neutral. 我戴眼镜 ('I wear glasses') vs 我的眼睛 ('my eyes').
睛 alone almost never appears outside the word 眼睛. Don't try to use it on its own to mean 'eye.'
Common typo: students sometimes write 眼晴 (with 日 below 月) instead of the correct 眼睛 (with 月 + 青). The right hand side of the second character is 青 (qīng), giving 睛.