蜻 (qīng): (bound form) dragonfly, see 蜻蜓

蜻 (qīng) is a Chinese character meaning “(bound form) dragonfly.” Outside the HSK 3.0 syllabus (CLEC 2022), it is composed of 虫 (semantic) and 青 (phonetic). It ranks #3894 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Etymologically derived, 蜻 insect. Its radical form 虫 (insect) appears in many related characters such as 虫 (chóng, insect), 蛇 (shé, snake), 蛋 (dàn, egg).

Spoken pronunciation
Radical: 虫 insect14 strokesFrequency #3894虫 semantic青 phonetic

Definitions

  1. (bound form) dragonfly
  2. see 蜻蜓

Etymology & Origin

蜻

pictophoneticinsect

Decomposition: ⿰虫青 (layout: left-right)

Components:虫semantic青phonetic

Stroke Order

1
2
3
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14

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

Words & Compounds

Common Compounds

WordPinyinMeaning
蜻蜓qīng tíngdragonfly
蜻蜓点水qīng tíng diǎn shuǐlit. the dragonfly touches the water lightly
剑走蜻蛉jiàn zǒu qīng língthe sword moves like a dragon-fly (modern idiom)
蜻蛉目qīng líng mùOdonata, order consisting of about 6,000 species of dragonflies and damselflies
草蜻蛉cǎo qīng línggreen lacewing
蜻蜓目qīng tíng mùOdonata, order consisting of about 6,000 species of dragonflies and damselflies
蜻蜓撼石柱qīng tíng hàn shí zhùlit. the dragon-fly shakes the stone tower (idiom)
蜻蛉qīng língdamselfly
蜻蝏qīng tíngvariant of 蜻蜓
9
Total compounds
78
As first character
0
As last character
22
As middle character

蜻 appears in 9 compound words: 78 as the first character, 0 as the last, and 22 in a middle position. Compound statistics computed from SUBTLEX-CH and HSK 3.0 vocabulary data.

Idioms & Chengyu (1)

蜻蜓点水qīng tíng diǎn shuǐ

lit. the dragonfly touches the water lightly; superficial contact (idiom)

phrase

Example Sentences

中国新闻网·文化Apr 2026

第十六届北影节闭幕 英国影片《危情蜻蜓》获三项大奖

dì shí liù jiè běi yǐng jié bì mù yīng guó yǐng piàn wēi qíng qīng tíng huò sān xiàng dà jiǎng

The 16th Beijing International Film Festival Closes; British Film "The Dragonfly" Wins Three Awards

中国新闻网·文化Apr 2026

竹节造型，正面凸雕竹节和枝叶、蜻蜓，背面似竹节被纵向剖开状。

zhú jié zào xíng , zhèng miàn tū diāo zhú jié hé zhī yè , qīng tíng , bèi miàn sì zhú jié bèi zòng xiàng pōu kāi zhuàng .

The design features bamboo joints; the front is adorned with relief carvings of bamboo joints, leaves, and dragonflies, while the back resembles a bamboo joint split lengthwise.

Character Family

Semantic Family — Characters sharing the 虫 (insect) component

蛋dàn蝙biān蝠fú蛇shé蠢chǔn蜜mì蜂fēng虹hóng螺luó蚕cán

Related Characters

虫chóng蛇shé蛋dàn蜂fēng蚊wén虾xiā蜡là融róng虽suī虹hóng

Homophones — Characters pronounced qīng

清qīng

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 蜻 (qīng) mean in Chinese?
蜻 (qīng) primarily means "(bound form) dragonfly." It is not part of the HSK 3.0 syllabus. It ranks #3894 in character frequency.
What's the difference between 蜻 and 精?
蜻 (qīng) and 精 (jīng) are often confused. confusable. The key distinguishing feature: 虫 vs 米 (same 青 component).
How many strokes does 蜻 have?
蜻 is written with 14 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 蜻?
The radical associated with 蜻 is 虫 (insect). This radical appears in many characters related to insect.
What are the components of 蜻?
蜻 is composed of: 虫 (semantic), 青 (phonetic). Its IDS decomposition is ⿰虫青 with a left-right layout. Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.
What are common words containing 蜻?
Common words with 蜻 include: 蜻蜓 (qīng tíng, "dragonfly"); 蜻蜓点水 (qīng tíng diǎn shuǐ, "lit. the dragonfly touches the water lightly"); 剑走蜻蛉 (jiàn zǒu qīng líng, "the sword moves like a dragon-fly (modern idiom)"); 蜻蛉目 (qīng líng mù, "Odonata, order consisting of about 6,000 species of dragonflies and damselflies"); 草蜻蛉 (cǎo qīng líng, "green lacewing"). There are over 9 compound words containing this character.
What characters sound the same as 蜻 (qīng)?
Several characters share the pronunciation qīng: 清 (clear, pure). Context and tones help distinguish between them in speech and writing.
Is 蜻 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Yes, 蜻 is written the same way in both simplified and traditional Chinese.

Practice writing 蜻 with real-time feedback

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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.