(líng): mound, tomb, hill

(líng) is a Chinese character meaning “mound.” Classified as HSK Level 7-9 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of (structural) and (structural). It ranks #1938 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Etymologically derived, a hill 阝 where people are laid to rest 夌; 夌 also provides the pronunciation. Its radical form (mound) appears in many related characters such as (, (specifier) that), (dōu, all), (yuàn, courtyard).

Native pronunciation

Definitions

  1. mound
  2. tomb
  3. hill

Etymology & Origin

ideographicA hill 阝 where people are laid to rest 夌; 夌 also provides the pronunciation

Decomposition: ⿰阝夌 (layout: left-right)

Stroke Order

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10

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
líng mùtomb
gé líng lánGreenland
qiū línghills
jiāng língsee 江陵縣|江陵县[Jiang1 ling2 Xian4]
gé líng lán dǎoGreenland
jīn língpre-Han name for Nanjing
jīn líng dà xuéUniversity of Nanking
míng shí sān língthe Ming tombs (mausoleum park of the Ming emperors in Changping district of Beijing)
lán líng xiào xiào shēngLanling Xiaoxiaosheng, pseudonym of the Ming dynasty writer and author of the Golden Lotus 金瓶梅[Jin1 ping2 mei2]
zhōng shān língDr Sun Yat-sen's mausoleum in Nanjing
西xī líng qūXiling, a district of Yichang City 宜昌市[Yi2 chang1 Shi4], Hubei
líng shuǐ lí zú zì zhì xiànLingshui Lizu Autonomous County, Hainan
hǎi líng qūHailing, a district of Taizhou City 泰州市[Tai4 zhou1 Shi4], Jiangsu
sōng zàn gàn bù língthe tomb of Tibetan king Songtsen Gampo or Songzain Gambo in Lhoka prefecture
lào líng shìLaoling, a county-level city in Dezhou City 德州市[De2 zhou1 Shi4], Shandong
83
Total compounds
11
As first character
52
As last character
37
As middle character

appears in 83 compound words: 11 as the first character, 52 as the last, and 37 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.

qiū
0.64042,462 co-occurrences
chuán
0.58411 co-occurrences
qǐn
0.5685,052 co-occurrences
0.56432,232 co-occurrences
pài
0.53512 co-occurrences
yuán
0.47318,174 co-occurrences
jìng
0.4685,244 co-occurrences
tóng
0.4637,170 co-occurrences
jiāng
0.44528,482 co-occurrences
zàng
0.4377,632 co-occurrences

Idioms & Chengyu (3)

Míng ShísānlíngHSK 7+

Alternative name for 十三陵 (Shísānlíng, “Thirteen Tombs of the Ming Dynasty”).

qín shǐ huáng língHSK 7+

the tomb of the first emperor at Mt Li 驪山|骊山[Li2 shan1] near Xi'an (awaits excavation)

phrase
wéi qiáng líng ruòHSK 7+

to avoid the strong and attack the weak (idiom); to bully

phrase

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

字的写法很特别,让我印象深刻。

líng zì de xiě fǎ hěn tè bié , ràng wǒ yìn xiàng shēn kè .

The character for "tomb" is written in a very distinctive way, which left a deep impression on me.

LtnFeb 2026

丹麦3/24大选 总理拚连任主打国防与格

dān mài 3 2 4 dà xuǎn zǒng lǐ 拚 lián rèn zhǔ dǎ guó fáng yǔ gé líng lán

Denmark's 3/24 general election Prime Minister is fighting for re-election, focusing on defense and Greenland

English News - RthkFeb 2026

兰岛自治政府总理称无意接收特朗普所称派往...

gé líng lán dǎo zì zhì zhèng fǔ zǒng lǐ chèn wú yì jiē shōu tè lǎng pǔ suǒ chèn pài wǎng . . .

The prime minister of the Greenland Autonomous Government said he had no intention of receiving what Trump said was sent to...

Hk01.comFeb 2026

还在觊觎格兰?特朗普宣布派遣医疗船赴当地“协助很多...

hái zài 觊 觎 gé líng lán ? tè lǎng pǔ xuān bù pài qiǎn yī liáo chuán fù dāng dì xié zhù hěn duō . . .

Still coveting Greenland? Trump announced that he would send a medical ship to the local area to "assist a lot...

EttodayFeb 2026

川普突宣布“派医疗船”赴格兰救人! 被呛:不用谢谢

chuān pǔ tū xuān bù pài yī liáo chuán fù gé líng lán jiù rén ! bèi qiàng : bù yòng xiè xiè

Trump suddenly announced that he would "send a medical ship" to Greenland to save people! Choked: No thanks

百度新闻Feb 2026

春节祭英烈 初心永不忘 华北军区烈士园开展“春节..

chūn jié jì yīng liè chū xīn yǒng bù wàng huá běi jūn qū liè shì líng yuán kāi zhǎn chūn jié . .

The Spring Festival sacrifices to the heroes and the original intention will never be forgotten The North China Military Region Martyrs' Cemetery carried out the "Spring Festival:

Tatoeba

兰岛比德国冷。

Gélínglán Dǎo bǐ Déguó lěng.

In Greenland it's colder than in Germany.

Tatoeba

特朗普想把格兰岛买下来。

Tèlǎngpǔ xiǎng bǎ Gélínglándǎo mǎi xiàlai.

Trump wants to buy Greenland.

Tatoeba

非洲是一个大陆, 而格兰不是。

Fēizhōu shì yī gè dàlù, ér Gélínglán bù shì.

Africa is a continent; Greenland is not.

Tatoeba

重庆是一座丘的城市,道路弯弯曲曲的。

Chóngqìng shì yī zuò qiūlíng de chéngshì, dàolù wānwānqūqū de.

Chongqing is a hilly city with winding streets.

Character Family

Homophones — Characters pronounced líng

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 陵 (líng) mean in Chinese?
陵 (líng) primarily means "mound." It is classified as HSK Level 7-9, making it an expert-level character. It ranks #1938 in character frequency.
How many strokes does 陵 have?
陵 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 陵?
The radical associated with 陵 is 阝 (mound). This radical appears in many characters related to mound.
What are the components of 陵?
陵 is composed of: 阝 (structural), 夌 (structural). Its IDS decomposition is ⿰阝夌 with a left-right layout. Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.
What are common words containing 陵?
Common words with 陵 include: 陵墓 (líng mù, "tomb"); 格陵兰 (gé líng lán, "Greenland"); 丘陵 (qiū líng, "hills"); 江陵 (jiāng líng, "see 江陵縣|江陵县[Jiang1 ling2 Xian4]"); 格陵兰岛 (gé líng lán dǎo, "Greenland"). There are over 83 compound words containing this character.
What characters sound the same as 陵 (líng)?
Several characters share the pronunciation líng: 灵 (quick), 凌 (to approach), 铃 (bell), 零 (zero), and 5 more. Context and tones help distinguish between them in speech and writing.
Is 陵 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Yes, 陵 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.