净
jìng · HSK 6
clean
🧹✨ Sounds like jing — a jingle plays when everything is sparkling clean
The character 净 combines 冫 (ice radical, think pure cold water) with 争 (struggle/compete). Struggling with ice-cold water until everything is completely clean. Also used for net amounts — what remains after everything else is wiped away.
净 — water radical 氵 + 争 (zhēng, contend)
净 combines the water radical 氵 with 争, which provides the sound. Originally written 淨, it depicted water used to wash things clean, with 争 hinting at the pronunciation. The meaning extended from 'wash with water' to the modern senses of 'clean, pure, net'.