Example sentences
běi北jīng京hěn很dà大。
Beijing is big.
nǐ你qù去guò过běi北jīng京ma吗？
Have you been to Beijing?
About this word
北 is north and 京 is capital, so the name is literally "northern capital". 京 has meant a capital city for a long time, and it still carries that sense in 京城, a literary way of saying the capital. Compass naming is a pattern in East Asia: 南京 is "southern capital", and 东京, the Chinese name for Tokyo, is "eastern capital". Chinese place names put the modifier first, so 北京 reads north-capital. Keep both syllables even and full, and keep the initial b sound unaspirated.
The story behind the character
北
Two 人 standing back to back. Xu Shen wrote 北, 乖也: "to turn against." The ancients sat facing south, so the direction behind them became 北, "north." The 北 you write is two people who had a falling out.
京
京 is a palace built on a raised mound. Xu Shen wrote 京, 人所为绝高丘也: "a man-made mound of great height," later meaning the capital built on high ground. So the 京 in 北京 started as "a city on a tall dirt mound."