(lín): to sprinkle, to drip, to pour

(lín) is a Chinese character meaning “to sprinkle.” Classified as HSK Level 6 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of (semantic) and (phonetic). It ranks #2120 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Etymologically derived, water. Its radical form (water) appears in many related characters such as (shuǐ, water), (hàn, Han ethnic group), (, steam).

Native pronunciation

Definitions

  1. to sprinkle
  2. to drip
  3. to pour

Etymology & Origin

pictophoneticwater

Decomposition: ⿰氵林 (layout: left-right)

Stroke Order

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11

Practice writing with real-time feedback — trace each stroke in the correct order and build muscle memory in the HanziFeed app.

Words & Compounds

Common Compounds

WordPinyinMeaning
bīng qí línice cream
lín yùto take a shower
lìn bìnggonorrhea
xiě lín línbloody
lín bā(physiology) (loanword) lymph
lín lí jìn zhìlit. extreme saturation (idiom)
dà hàn lín lídripping with sweat
lín bā jiélymph node
lín bā xì bāolymphocyte
lín lídripping wet
hān chàng lín líto one's heart's content (idiom)
lín bā xiànlymph node
tòng kuài lín líjoyous
rì shài yǔ línlit. exposed to sun and rain (idiom)
shuǐ lín líndripping wet
33
Total compounds
55
As first character
21
As last character
24
As middle character

appears in 33 compound words: 55 as the first character, 21 as the last, and 24 in a middle position. Compound statistics computed from SUBTLEX-CH and HSK 3.0 vocabulary data.

Strongest Collocations

Characters that most frequently co-occur with in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.

0.62910 co-occurrences
liú
0.6104,134 co-occurrences
0.6084,133 co-occurrences
bīng
0.60611,682 co-occurrences
shì
0.59811 co-occurrences
chún
0.58410 co-occurrences
0.53919,904 co-occurrences
bāo
0.5084,320 co-occurrences
hān
0.481174 co-occurrences
0.4752,778 co-occurrences

Idioms & Chengyu (8)

gǒuxuèlíntóuHSK 6+

to bite someone's head off; to scold fiercely; to curse; to berate

phrase
línbā xìtǒngHSK 6+

lymphatic system

noun
rìshàiyǔlìnHSK 6+

to be exposed to the sun and rain; to be exposed to the elements

phrase
dàhànlínlíHSK 6+

to sweat profusely

phrase
hānchànglínlíHSK 7+

to one's heart's content; expressing something fully; fully and delightedly; in a flowing and lucid style

phrase
línlíjìnzhìHSK 6+

thorough and smooth; detailed and vivid

phrase
tòngkuàilínlíHSK 6+

to be extremely joyful

phrase
xiānxuèlínlíHSK 6+

to be dripping with blood; to have blood streaming down

phrase

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

这条流经三个省份,滋养了沿岸的农田。

zhè tiáo lín liú jīng sān gě shěng fèn , zī yǎng le yán àn de nóng tián .

This river flows through three provinces, nourishing the farmland along its banks.

Nownews今日新聞Feb 2026

吴中纯巴癌走了!好友忆去年两人看刘德华电影 她...

wú zhōng chún lín bā ái zǒu le ! hǎo yǒu yì qù nián liǎng rén kàn liú dé huá diàn yǐng tā . . .

Wu Zhongchun lymphoma is gone! Friends recalled that last year, the two watched Andy Lau's movie She...

中時新聞網Feb 2026

吴中纯罹巴癌不到1个月病逝!名嘴曝真实案例“3天...

wú zhōng chún 罹 lín bā ái bù dào 1 gè yuè bìng shì ! míng zuǐ pù zhēn shí àn lì 3 tiān . . .

Wu Zhongchun died of lymphoma less than 1 month ago! Celebrities exposed real cases "3 days...

Investing 香港Feb 2026

Palvella报告巴管畸形凝胶第三期试验结果呈阳性

P a l v e l l a bào gào lín bā guǎn jī xíng níng jiāo dì sān qī shì yàn jié guǒ chéng yáng xìng

Palvela reported positive results from the phase III trial of lymphangiomalformations gel

大紀元 | 大紀元新聞網Feb 2026

暴雨致巴士司机改道 10嵗女生被迫雨回家

bào yǔ zhì bā shì sī jī gǎi dào 1 0 嵗 nǚ shēng bèi pò lín yǔ huí jiā

Heavy rain caused bus driver to divert 10-year-old girl forced to go home in the rain

EttodayFeb 2026

...假后“性病筛检增3成” 泌尿医曝观察:染病、披衣菌最常见

. . . jiǎ hòu xìng bìng shāi jiǎn zēng 3 chéng mì niào yī pù guàn chá : rǎn lín bìng , pī yī jūn zuì cháng jiàn

... After the holiday, "STD screening increased by 30%" Urologist exposure observation: gonorrhea and chlamydia are the most common

Tatoeba

珍想要一个冰淇甜筒。

Zhēn xiǎngyào yī gè bīngqílín tiántǒng.

Jane wanted an ice cream cone.

Tatoeba

这个浴的莲蓬头太低了。

Zhège línyù de liánpengtóu tài dī le.

The shower head in this shower is too low.

Tatoeba

我吃了黑芝麻冰淇

Wǒ chī le hēi zhīma bīngqílín.

I ate black sesame ice cream.

Tatoeba

有带马桶和浴的房间吗?

Yǒu dài mǎtǒng hé línyù de fángjiān ma?

Do you have any rooms with a shower and toilet?

Character Family

Homophones — Characters pronounced lín

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 淋 (lín) mean in Chinese?
淋 (lín) primarily means "to sprinkle." It is classified as HSK Level 6, making it an advanced character. It ranks #2120 in character frequency.
What's the difference between 淋 and 禁?
淋 (lín) and 禁 (jīn) are often confused. confusable. The key distinguishing feature: 氵 vs 礻 (same 林 component).
How many strokes does 淋 have?
淋 is written with 11 strokes. The correct stroke order matters for recognition and handwriting speed — practice with the animated guide above to build proper technique.
What is the radical of 淋?
The radical associated with 淋 is 氵 (water). This radical appears in many characters related to water.
What are the components of 淋?
淋 is composed of: 氵 (semantic), 林 (phonetic). Its IDS decomposition is ⿰氵林 with a left-right layout. Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.
What are common words containing 淋?
Common words with 淋 include: 冰淇淋 (bīng qí lín, "ice cream"); 淋浴 (lín yù, "to take a shower"); 淋病 (lìn bìng, "gonorrhea"); 血淋淋 (xiě lín lín, "bloody"); 淋巴 (lín bā, "(physiology) (loanword) lymph"). There are over 33 compound words containing this character.
What characters sound the same as 淋 (lín)?
Several characters share the pronunciation lín: 拎 (to lift up), 邻 (neighbor), 林 (forest, woods), 临 (to face), and 1 more. Context and tones help distinguish between them in speech and writing.
Is 淋 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Yes, 淋 is written the same way in both simplified and traditional Chinese.

Practice writing with real-time feedback

Trace stroke sequences, hear native pronunciation, and build lasting retention with spaced repetition in the HanziFeed app.

Character data sourced from Unihan (Unicode Consortium), SUBTLEX-CH frequency corpus (Cai & Brysbaert, 2010), and Make Me a Hanzi (stroke data). Collocation strength measured via NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information). Verified by the HanziFeed linguistics team.

HSK classification follows the HSK 3.0 Standard (Center for Language Education and Cooperation, CLEC, 2022 revision). Idiom data from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 3.0).

Data last verified: March 2026.