(lóng): Chinese dragon, loong, (fig.) emperor, dragon

(lóng) is a Chinese character meaning “chinese dragon.” Classified as HSK Level 5 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of (structural) and 丿 (structural). It ranks #696 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Etymologically pictographic, a dragon. Its radical form (dragon) appears in many related characters.

Native pronunciation

Definitions

  1. Chinese dragon
  2. loong
  3. (fig.) emperor
  4. dragon

Etymology & Origin

pictographicA dragon

Decomposition: ⿻尤丿 (layout: overlay)

Stroke Order

1
2
3
4
5

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
lóng xiālobster
kǒng lóngdinosaur (,隻|只[zhi1])
fēi lóngwyvern (type of dragon)
lóng tóufaucet
jù lónggigantic dragon (lit. and fig.)
huǒ lónga lantern or torchlight procession (resembling a fiery dragon)
hé lóngsee 和龍市|和龙市[He2 long2 Shi4]
chéng lóngto succeed in life
lóng huásee 龍華區|龙华区[Long2 hua2 Qu1]
huáng lóngHuanglong county in Yan'an 延安[Yan2 an1], Shaanxi
lóng fèngdragon and phoenix
lóng tàocostume of minor characters in opera, featuring dragon designs
lóng gǔ"dragon bones" (fossilized animal bones or teeth, used in TCM)
jiǔ lóngKowloon district of Hong Kong
lóng shānsee 龍山縣|龙山县[Long2 shan1 Xian4]
100
Total compounds
69
As first character
31
As last character
0
As middle character

appears in 100 compound words: 69 as the first character, 31 as the last, and 0 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.

hēi
0.52563,756 co-occurrences
gǎng
0.52312,498 co-occurrences
jiāng
0.50272,547 co-occurrences
tán
0.49711,568 co-occurrences
xiā
0.4932,784 co-occurrences
kǒng
0.48519,662 co-occurrences
0.46817,862 co-occurrences
0.4664,626 co-occurrences
fèng
0.4618,832 co-occurrences
jǐng
0.4532,880 co-occurrences

Idioms & Chengyu (31)

bǎi lóngménzhènHSK 6+

to chat; to gossip; to spin a yarn; to chew the rag

verb
bǐzǒulóngshéHSK 5+

lively and vigorous

phrase
cánglóngwòhǔHSK 5+

to have many hidden talented individuals

phrase
婿chénglóng kuàixùHSK 7+

ideal or excellent son-in-law

phrase
huàlóngdiǎnjīngHSK 5+

something one step away from perfection; to put on the finishing touches

phrase
xiáng lóng fú hǔHSK 7+

to vanquish dragons and tigers (idiom)

phrase
JiǔlóngchéngzhàiHSK 7+

Kowloon Walled City

láilóngqùmàiHSK 7+

origin and development; the entire process; sequence of events; ins and outs

phrase
lǎotàilóngzhōngHSK 5+

old and doddering

phrase
lóngfēifèngwǔHSK 7+

vivid and vigorous flourishes in calligraphy

phrase
lóngfèngchéngxiángHSK 7+

prosperity brought by the dragon and the phoenix

phrase
lóng gān fèng dǎnHSK 7+

rare food; ambrosia (delicacy)

phrase

Showing 12 of 31 idioms containing .

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

字的写法很特别,让我印象深刻。

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

The way the character for "dragon" is written is quite unique and left a deep impression on me.

中時新聞網Feb 2026

国3井段惊魂!驾驶分心追撞缓撞车 车流回堵2...

guó 3 lóng jǐng duàn jīng hún ! jià shǐ fēn xīn zhuī zhuàng huǎn zhuàng chē chē liú huí dǔ 2 . . .

National 3 Longjing section is horror! Driving distracted and chasing and crashing slowly Traffic jam 2...

東方日報Feb 2026

吟虎啸:美元地位曾经衰落

lóng yín hǔ xiào : měi yuán dì wèi céng jīng shuāi luò

The roar of the dragon and the roar: The status of the dollar has declined

東方日報Feb 2026

七公:“万亿大市”挑大梁支撑基本面

lóng qī gōng : wàn yì dà shì tiāo dà liáng zhī chēng jī běn miàn

Long Qigong: "Trillion big city" takes the lead to support fundamentals

Hk01.comFeb 2026

新年|高铁西九站现返港潮 市民指内地物价便宜故留到最后...

xīn nián gāo tiě xī jiǔ lóng zhàn xiàn fǎn gǎng cháo shì mín zhǐ nèi dì wù jià biàn yí gù liú dào zuì hòu . . .

New Year|High Speed Rail West Kowloon Station is now returning to Hong Kong Citizens say that the price in the mainland is cheap, so they will stay until the end...

百度新闻Feb 2026

利弗莫尔中概股头指数收涨0.94% 网易有道涨近..

lì 弗 mò ěr zhōng gài gǔ lóng tóu zhǐ shǔ shōu zhǎng 0 . 9 4 wǎng yì yǒu dào zhǎng jìn . .

Livermore Chinese Concept Stock Leading Index closed up 0.94% NetEase Youdao rose nearby:

Tatoeba

看见新鲜虾,我有了食欲。

Kànjiàn xīnxiān lóngxiā, wǒ yǒule shíyù.

Seeing the fresh lobster made me hungry.

Tatoeba

她是继先生之后最出色的钢琴家。

Tā shì jì lóng xiānsheng zhīhòu zuì chūsè de gāngqínjiā.

She is our next best pianist after Mr Long.

Tatoeba

好久以前就灭绝了。

Kǒnglóng hǎojiǔ yǐqián jiù mièjué le.

Dinosaurs died out a very long time ago.

Tatoeba

一条住在洞穴里。

Yītiáolóng zhù zài dòngxué lǐ.

A dragon lives inside the cavern.

Character Family

Homophones — Characters pronounced lóng

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 龙 (lóng) mean in Chinese?
龙 (lóng) primarily means "chinese dragon." It is classified as HSK Level 5, making it an advanced character. It ranks #696 in character frequency.
How many strokes does 龙 have?
龙 is written with 5 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 龙?
The radical associated with 龙 is 龙 (dragon). This radical appears in many characters related to dragon.
What are the components of 龙?
龙 is composed of: 尤 (structural), 丿 (structural). Its IDS decomposition is ⿻尤丿 with a overlay layout. Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.
What are common words containing 龙?
Common words with 龙 include: 龙虾 (lóng xiā, "lobster"); 恐龙 (kǒng lóng, "dinosaur (,隻|只[zhi1])"); 飞龙 (fēi lóng, "wyvern (type of dragon)"); 龙头 (lóng tóu, "faucet"); 巨龙 (jù lóng, "gigantic dragon (lit. and fig.)"). There are over 100 compound words containing this character.
What characters sound the same as 龙 (lóng)?
Several characters share the pronunciation lóng: 咙 (used in 喉嚨|喉咙), 胧 (used in 朦朧|朦胧), 笼 (enclosing frame made of bamboo, wire etc), 聋 (deaf), and 4 more. Context and tones help distinguish between them in speech and writing.
Is 龙 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Yes, 龙 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.