紧

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tight; strict; close at hand; near; urgent; tense; hard up; short of money; to tighten

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Formation & memory

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Phono-semantic compound (形声字)

silk

Components 又糸 ? unknown part

tight · Heisig RSH #1100

foiled again + floss

Keyword method from Heisig's Remembering Simplified Hanzi.

The most common words first — learning a character in context makes it stick.

Word	Pinyin	Meaning
过紧日子	guò jǐn rì zi	to tighten one's belt; to live frugally
手头紧	shǒu tóu jǐn	short of money; hard up
不打紧	bù dǎ jǐn	unimportant; not serious; it doesn't matter; never mind
上紧发条	shàng jǐn fā tiáo	to wind the spring up tight; (fig.) to gear up; to ready oneself
紧巴巴	jǐn bā bā	tight fitting; hard up (i.e. lacking money)
不当紧	bù dāng jǐn	not important; of no consequence
风声紧	fēng shēng jǐn	(fig.) the situation is tense
紧要关头	jǐn yào guān tóu	urgent and important moment (idiom); critical juncture
无关紧要	wú guān jǐn yào	indifferent; insignificant
紧密相联	jǐn mì xiāng lián	closely interrelated; intimately related
过度紧张	guò dù jǐn zhāng	hypertension; excessive stress
不要紧	bù yào jǐn	unimportant; not serious; it doesn't matter; never mind; it looks all right, but
拉紧	lā jǐn	to pull tight; tensioning
手紧	shǒu jǐn	tightfisted; stingy; short of money; hard up
紧密织物	jǐn mì zhī wù	closely woven fabric
打紧	dǎ jǐn	important
紧巴	jǐn bā	tight (i.e. lacking money); hard up; same as 緊巴巴\|紧巴巴
紧急应变	jǐn jí yìng biàn	emergency management
紧密配合	jǐn mì pèi hé	to coordinate closely; to act in close partnership with
加紧	jiā jǐn	to intensify; to speed up; to step up