experience
HSK level
经验 is written with 18 strokes (经: 8, 验: 10). The animation replays automatically.
经验 (jīngyàn) is a noun meaning the practical knowledge or skill a person accumulates from having done something before.
It is neutral in register and works in everyday, work, and academic contexts. English 'experience' splits into two Chinese words, and this is the crucial distinction: 经验 is the accumulated know-how you gain — 'I have teaching experience' — while 经历 (jīnglì) is the events you actually lived through as episodes — 'a strange experience on the trip.' 经验 is almost always uncountable wisdom you can apply; 经历 is a countable happening.
A second surprise for English speakers: 经验 can also work as a stative quality via 有经验 (yǒu jīngyàn, 'experienced'), where English needs an adjective. You gain it with 积累 (jīlěi) and lack it as 没经验.
Character by character
Memory hook: What you've 经 (passed through) and 验 (tested) becomes your experience.
他很有经验，你可以问他。
Tā hěn yǒu jīngyàn, nǐ kěyǐ wèn tā.
He's very experienced, you can ask him.
spoken
这份工作需要三年以上的经验。
Zhè fèn gōngzuò xūyào sān nián yǐshàng de jīngyàn.
This job requires more than three years of experience.
neutral
失败也是一种宝贵的经验。
Shībài yěshì yì zhǒng bǎoguì de jīngyàn.
Failure is also a kind of valuable experience.
written
我没经验，请多帮助我。
Wǒ méi jīngyàn, qǐng duō bāngzhù wǒ.
I have no experience, please help me a lot.
spoken
经历 is the events you lived through (an episode, a happening); 经验 is the know-how you extracted from them. You 'have a strange 经历' but 'gain useful 经验.'
阅历 is broad life experience of the world, usually said of a mature, worldly person. 经验 is more specific and can be about one skill or job; 阅历 is the whole of a life's seasoning.
实验 means 'experiment' (a scientific test), sharing the 验 character. 经验 is accumulated know-how, not a controlled test.
经历 is the lived event; 经验 is the lesson drawn from it. Beginners use 经验 when they mean the story of what happened, which should be 经历.
Acquire it by listening
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