铃 (líng): bell

铃 (líng) is a Chinese character meaning “bell.” Classified as HSK Level 5 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of 钅 (semantic) and 令 (phonetic). It ranks #1942 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Etymologically derived, 铃 bell. Its radical form 钅 (metal) appears in many related characters such as 钱 (qián, money), 错 (cuò, wrong, mistake), 钟 (zhōng, clock, bell).

Spoken pronunciation

Definitions

  1. bell

Etymology & Origin

铃

pictophoneticbell

Decomposition: ⿰钅令 (layout: left-right)

Stroke Order

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10

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

Words & Compounds

Common Compounds

WordPinyinMeaning
铃声nounlíng shēngring
门铃nounmén língdoorbell
马铃薯nounmǎ líng shǔpotato
铃铛nounlíng danglittle bell
警铃nounjǐng língalarm bell
铃木proper-nounlíng mùSuzuki (Japanese surname)
响铃xiǎng líng(of a bell, alarm, or phone) to ring
风铃nounfēng língwind chimes
哑铃nounyǎ língdumbbell (weight)
杠铃noungàng língbarbell
掩耳盗铃phraseyǎn ěr dào línglit. to cover one's ears whilst stealing a bell
电铃noundiàn língelectric bell
车铃nounchē língbicycle bell
电话铃声diàn huà líng shēng(telephone) ring
解铃还需系铃人jiě líng hái xū xì líng rénvariant of 解鈴還須繫鈴人|解铃还须系铃人
42
Total compounds
12
As first character
55
As last character
33
As middle character

铃 appears in 42 compound words: 12 as the first character, 55 as the last, and 33 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 铃 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.

薯shǔ
0.636995 co-occurrences
兜dōu
0.591526 co-occurrences
哑yǎ
0.564184 co-occurrences
木mù
0.4783,034 co-occurrences
杠gàng
0.471116 co-occurrences
悬xuán
0.455240 co-occurrences
马mǎ
0.4481,816 co-occurrences
笼lóng
0.436158 co-occurrences
摇yáo
0.428140 co-occurrences
嘉jiā
0.42511 co-occurrences

Idioms & Chengyu (2)

解铃系铃jiě líng xì língHSK 5+

see 解鈴還須繫鈴人|解铃还须系铃人

phrase
掩耳盗铃yǎn'ěrdàolíngHSK 7+

to fool oneself; to bury one's head in the sand

phrase

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

上课铃响了,同学们都回到教室准备上课。

Shàngkè líng xiǎng le, tóngxuémen dōu huí dào jiàoshì zhǔnbèi shàngkè.

The class bell rang; students all returned to the classroom to prepare for class.

東森新聞Feb 2026

14岁少年健身遭190公斤杠铃重击 胸口瞬间凹陷

1 4 suì shǎo nián jiàn shēn zāo 1 9 0 gōng jīn gàng líng chóng jī xiōng kǒu shùn jiān āo xiàn

The 14-year-old boy was hit hard by a 190-kilogram barbell and his chest was instantly sunken

Hk01.comFeb 2026

AV女优塔乃花铃突传引退 作品全面下架 或因“他们”得悉...

A V nǚ yōu tǎ nǎi huā líng tū chuán yǐn tuì zuò pǐn quán miàn xià jià huò yīn tā men dé xī . . .

AV actress Tano Hana Suzu suddenly retired, and her works were completely removed from the shelves or because "they" learned that...

NewsFeb 2026

金黄花海开唱嘉市潮风铃黄花疯音乐市集 下周周休八掌溪畔登场

jīn huáng huā hǎi kāi chàng jiā shì cháo fēng líng huáng huā fēng yīn lè shì jí xià zhōu zhōu xiū bā zhǎng xī pàn dēng chǎng

The golden sea of flowers sings Jiashi tide wind chimes and yellow flower crazy music market next week

NewsFeb 2026

嘉义中埔春嬉风铃闪耀八掌溪 20分钟迪士尼级烟火携手金曲...

jiā yì zhōng 埔 chūn xī fēng líng shǎn yào bā zhǎng xī fēn zhōng dí shì ní jí yān huǒ xié shǒu jīn qū . . .

Chiayi Zhongpu Spring Wind Chimes Shine in Bazhang Creek 20 minutes of Disney-level fireworks and golden songs...

NewsFeb 2026

春神来了!洋红风铃木盛开 台中赏花地图曝

chūn shén lái le ! yáng hóng fēng líng mù shèng kāi tái zhōng shǎng huā dì tú pù

The god of spring is coming! Magenta wind bells are in full bloom, and the Taichung flower viewing map is exposed

Tatoeba

洋葱比马铃薯快熟。

Yángcōng bǐ mǎlíngshǔ kuài shú.

Onions cook more quickly than potatoes.

Tatoeba

你最喜欢用什么方式煮马铃薯?

Nǐ zuì xǐhuan yòng shénme fāngshì zhǔ mǎlíngshǔ?

What's your favorite way to cook potatoes?

Tatoeba

你没听到门铃响吗?

Nǐ méi tīngdào ménlíng xiǎng ma?

Didn't you hear the doorbell?

Tatoeba

你听见有人按门铃了吗?

Nǐ tīngjiàn yǒurén àn ménlíng le ma?

Did you hear someone ring the doorbell?

Character Family

Semantic Family — Characters sharing the 钅 (bell) component

Homophones — Characters pronounced líng

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 铃 (líng) mean in Chinese?
铃 (líng) primarily means "bell." It is classified as HSK Level 5, making it an advanced character. It ranks #1942 in character frequency.
What's the difference between 铃 and 冷?
铃 (líng) and 冷 (lěng) are often confused. confusable. The key distinguishing feature: 钅 vs 冫 (same 令 component).
How many strokes does 铃 have?
铃 is written with 10 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 铃?
The radical associated with 铃 is 钅 (metal). This radical appears in many characters related to metal.
What are the components of 铃?
铃 is composed of: 钅 (semantic), 令 (phonetic). Its IDS decomposition is ⿰钅令 with a left-right layout. Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.
What are common words containing 铃?
Common words with 铃 include: 铃声 (líng shēng, "ring"); 门铃 (mén líng, "doorbell"); 马铃薯 (mǎ líng shǔ, "potato"); 铃铛 (líng dang, "little bell"); 警铃 (jǐng líng, "alarm bell"). There are over 42 compound words containing this character.
What characters sound the same as 铃 (líng)?
Several characters share the pronunciation líng: 领 (neck), 零 (zero), 龄 (age), 玲 ((onom.) ting-a-ling (in compounds such as 玎玲 or 玲瓏|玲珑)), and 4 more. Context and tones help distinguish between them in speech and writing.
Is 铃 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
No. The simplified form is 铃 and the traditional form is 鈴.

Practice writing 铃 with real-time feedback

Trace stroke sequences, hear spoken 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.