玲 (líng): (onom.) ting-a-ling (in compounds such as 玎玲 or 玲瓏|玲珑), tinkling of gem-pendants

玲 (líng) is a Chinese character meaning “(onom.) ting-a-ling (in compounds such as 玎玲 or 玲瓏|玲珑).” Outside the HSK 3.0 syllabus (CLEC 2022), it is composed of 王 (semantic) and 令 (phonetic). It ranks #3382 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Etymologically derived, 玲 jade. Its radical form 王 (jade) appears in many related characters such as 现 (xiàn, to appear), 球 (qiú, ball used for playing games (variant of 球)), 环 (huán, ring).

Spoken pronunciation

Definitions

  1. (onom.) ting-a-ling (in compounds such as 玎玲 or 玲瓏|玲珑)
  2. tinkling of gem-pendants

Etymology & Origin

玲

pictophoneticjade

Decomposition: ⿰王令 (layout: left-right)

Stroke Order

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9

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

Words & Compounds

Common Compounds

WordPinyinMeaning
玲珑líng lóng(onom.) clink of jewels
美玲měi língMeiling (female name)
八面玲珑bā miàn líng lóngbe smooth and slick (in establishing social relations)
玲玲líng líng(onom.) tinkling (e.g. of jewels)
小巧玲珑phrasexiǎo qiǎo líng lóng(idiom) dainty
张爱玲zhāng ài língEileen Chang (1920-1995), famous Chinese-American novelist
爱德玲ài dé língAdeline (name)
林志玲lín zhì língLin Chi-ling (1974-), Taiwanese model and actress
丁玲dīng língDing Ling (1904–1986), Chinese novelist, author of the novel "The Sun Shines over the Sanggan River" 太陽照在桑乾河上|太阳照在桑干河...
玲珑剔透phraselíng lóng tī tòuexquisitely made
郑裕玲zhèng yù língCarol "Dodo" Cheng Yu-Ling (1957-), Hong Kong actress and TV host
梵婀玲fàn ē líng(loanword) (archaic) violin
玎玲dīng líng(onom.) ding-a-ling
13
Total compounds
23
As first character
62
As last character
15
As middle character

玲 appears in 13 compound words: 23 as the first character, 62 as the last, and 15 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 玲 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.

翁wēng
0.57113 co-occurrences
晓xiǎo
0.52211 co-occurrences
嘉jiā
0.44810 co-occurrences

Idioms & Chengyu (3)

八面玲珑bā miàn líng lóng

be smooth and slick (in establishing social relations)

phrase
玲珑剔透línglóngtītòu

carved delicately and exquisitely; witty, clever, smart

phrase
小巧玲珑xiǎoqiǎolínglóng

small and exquisite

phrase

Example Sentences

少数派Sep 2026

以及感谢帮我调整文章的嘉玲同学。

yǐ jí gǎn xiè bāng wǒ diào zhěng wén zhāng de jiā líng tóng xué .

And thank you to Jialing for helping me edit the article.

少数派Sep 2026

演员阵容还包含许亚军、保剑锋、赵文瑄、李玲玉、柯淳、陈龙、刘钧、邵峰、戴军等。

yǎn yuán zhèn róng hái bāo hán xǔ yà jūn , bǎo jiàn fēng , zhào wén 瑄 , lǐ líng yù , kē chún , chén lóng , liú jūn , shào fēng , dài jūn děng .

The cast also includes Xu Yajun, Bao Jianfeng, Zhao Wenxuan, Li Lingyu, Ke Chun, Chen Long, Liu Jun, Shao Feng, Dai Jun, and others.

少数派Aug 2026

在与访客们的交流中,随波逐流的玲斗内心逐渐转变。

zài yǔ fǎng kè men de jiāo liú zhōng , suí bō zhú liú de líng dǒu nèi xīn zhú jiàn zhuǎn biàn .

Through her interactions with the visitors, Lingdou—who had previously gone with the flow—began to undergo an inner transformation.

中国新闻网·文化Aug 2026

阮玲玉形象的经典化,也离不开期刊的持续建构。

ruǎn líng yù xíng xiàng de jīng diǎn huà , yě lí bù kāi qī kān de chí xù jiàn gòu .

The canonization of Ruan Lingyu’s image would not have been possible without the ongoing efforts of periodicals to shape it.

中国新闻网·文化Aug 2026

青年创作者钟淇玲的AI作品《鲸鱼之歌》获得“最佳技术作品”推优荣誉。

qīng nián chuàng zuò zhě zhōng qí líng de A I zuò pǐn jīng yú zhī gē huò dé zuì jiā jì shù zuò pǐn tuī yōu róng yù .

Young artist Zhong Qiling’s AI artwork, *The Song of the Whale*, received the “Best Technical Work” recommendation.

Character Family

Semantic Family — Characters sharing the 王 (jade) component

Homophones — Characters pronounced líng

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 玲 (líng) mean in Chinese?
玲 (líng) primarily means "(onom.) ting-a-ling (in compounds such as 玎玲 or 玲瓏|玲珑)." It is not part of the HSK 3.0 syllabus. It ranks #3382 in character frequency.
What's the difference between 玲 and 冷?
玲 (líng) and 冷 (lěng) are often confused. confusable. The key distinguishing feature: 王 vs 冫 (same 令 component).
How many strokes does 玲 have?
玲 is written with 9 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 玲?
The radical associated with 玲 is 王 (jade). This radical appears in many characters related to jade.
What are the components of 玲?
玲 is composed of: 王 (semantic), 令 (phonetic). Its IDS decomposition is ⿰王令 with a left-right layout. Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.
What are common words containing 玲?
Common words with 玲 include: 玲珑 (líng lóng, "(onom.) clink of jewels"); 美玲 (měi líng, "Meiling (female name)"); 八面玲珑 (bā miàn líng lóng, "be smooth and slick (in establishing social relations)"); 玲玲 (líng líng, "(onom.) tinkling (e.g. of jewels)"); 小巧玲珑 (xiǎo qiǎo líng lóng, "(idiom) dainty"). There are over 13 compound words containing this character.
What characters sound the same as 玲 (líng)?
Several characters share the pronunciation líng: 零 (zero), 龄 (age), 铃 (bell), 聆 ((literary) to hear), and 2 more. Context and tones help distinguish between them in speech and writing.
Is 玲 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Yes, 玲 is written the same way in both simplified and traditional Chinese.

Practice writing 玲 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.