蝇 (yíng): fly, musca, CL:隻|只

蝇 (yíng) is a Chinese character meaning “fly.” Classified as HSK Level 7-9 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of 虫 (structural) and 黾 (structural). It ranks #2582 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Etymologically derived, 蝇 insects 虫 that toads 黾 feed on. Its radical form 虫 (insect) appears in many related characters such as 蛋 (dàn, egg), 虽 (suī, although), 虫 (chóng, insect).

Spoken pronunciation

Definitions

  1. fly
  2. musca
  3. CL:隻|只

Etymology & Origin

蝇

ideographicInsects 虫 that toads 黾 feed on

Decomposition: ⿰虫黾 (layout: left-right)

Stroke Order

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14

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

Words & Compounds

Common Compounds

WordPinyinMeaning
苍蝇nouncāng yinghousefly
果蝇nounguǒ yíngfruit fly
苍蝇拍nouncāng ying pāiflyswatter
蝇头小利phraseyíng tóu xiǎo lì(idiom) meager profit
蝇营狗苟phraseyíng yíng gǒu gǒu(lit.) to swarm like flies around rotten food and drag out an ignoble existence like a dog (idiom)
家蝇nounjiā yínghouse fly
没头苍蝇méi tóu cāng yingsee 無頭蒼蠅|无头苍蝇
无头苍蝇wú tóu cāng yingheadless fly (a metaphor for sb who is rushing around frantically)
蝇子nounyíng zihousefly
如蝇逐臭rú yíng zhú chòulike flies pursuing a stink (idiom)
苍蝇不叮无缝蛋cāng ying bù dīng wú fèng dànlit. flies do not attack an intact egg (idiom)
苍蝇老虎cāng ying lǎo hǔ(coll.) jumping spider (which pounces on houseflies, hence the Chinese name)
捕蝇草nounbǔ yíng cǎoVenus flytrap (Dionaea muscipula)
蝇蛆病yíng qū bìngmyiasis
苍蝇座proper-nouncāng ying zuòMusca (constellation)
19
Total compounds
32
As first character
26
As last character
42
As middle character

蝇 appears in 19 compound words: 32 as the first character, 26 as the last, and 42 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 蝇 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.

苍cāng
0.727759 co-occurrences
笼lóng
0.69712 co-occurrences
犬quǎn
0.63510 co-occurrences
仓cāng
0.61312 co-occurrences
惹rě
0.59112 co-occurrences
尾wěi
0.56212 co-occurrences
蚊wén
0.540120 co-occurrences
络luò
0.52610 co-occurrences
狗gǒu
0.50712 co-occurrences
困kùn
0.49111 co-occurrences

Idioms & Chengyu (6)

狗苟蝇营gǒu gǒu yíng yíngHSK 7+

see 蠅營狗苟|蝇营狗苟

phrase
没头苍蝇méi tóu cāng yingHSK 7+

see 無頭蒼蠅|无头苍蝇

phrase
如蝇逐臭rú yíng zhú chòuHSK 7+

like flies pursuing a stink (idiom); the mob chases the rich and powerful; the crowd runs after trash

phrase
无头苍蝇wú tóu cāng yingHSK 7+

headless fly (a metaphor for sb who is rushing around frantically)

phrase
蝇头小利yíngtóuxiǎolìHSK 7+

extremely small profit; petty gain

phrase
蝇营狗苟yíngyínggǒugǒuHSK 7+

to shamelessly seek personal gain; profit by ingratiating oneself with the rich

phrase

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

老师教我们蝇字的发音和笔顺。

lǎo shī jiào wǒ men yíng zì de fā yīn hé bǐ shùn .

The teacher taught us the pronunciation and stroke order of the character "fly."

IT之家Sep 2026

谷歌首绘果蝇全脑图谱,超 16.6 万神经元被开发者拉去训练《毁灭战士》

gǔ gē shǒu huì guǒ yíng quán nǎo tú pǔ , chāo 1 6 . 6 wàn shén jīng yuán bèi kāi fā zhě lā qù xùn liàn huǐ miè zhàn shì

Google Maps the First Complete Fruit Fly Brain Atlas; Developers Use Over 166,000 Neurons to Train "Doom"

奇客SolidotAug 2026

该结果佐证了近期的一个假说——尼安德特人可能经常食用带有蝇蛆的动物尸体。

gāi jié guǒ zuǒ zhèng le jìn qī de yī gè jiǎ shuō — — ní ān dé tè rén kě néng jīng cháng shí yòng dài yǒu yíng 蛆 de dòng wù shī tǐ .

This finding supports a recent hypothesis—that Neanderthals may have frequently consumed animal carcasses infested with fly maggots.

StheadlineFeb 2026

...水“怪兽仓”两幼犬被困笼内 一狗断尾惹乌蝇 区议员联络仓主无果报警求助

. . . shuǐ guài shòu cāng liǎng yòu quǎn bèi kùn lóng nèi yī gǒu duàn wěi rě wū yíng qū yì yuán lián lào cāng zhǔ wú guǒ bào jǐng qiú zhù

...Two puppies trapped in a "monster kennel" by the water; one dog's severed tail attracted flies. A district council member contacted the kennel owner but, having failed to reach a resolution, called the police for help.

百度新闻Feb 2026

...生半年卖出800多只点翠大蟑螂,还推出苍蝇胸针、..

. . . shēng bàn nián mài chū 8 0 0 duō zhī diǎn cuì dà 蟑 螂 , hái tuī chū cāng yíng xiōng zhēn , . .

... More than 800 large cockroaches were sold in half a year, and fly brooches were also launched、..

Tatoeba

光阴飞逝如箭; 果蝇喜欢香蕉。

Guāngyīn fēishì rú jiàn; guǒyíng xǐhuan xiāngjiāo.

Time flies like an arrow; fruit flies like a banana.

Tatoeba

老鹰不会去抓苍蝇。

Lǎoyīng bù huì qù zhuā cāngying.

The eagle does not catch flies.

Tatoeba

天花板上面有只苍蝇。

Tiānhuābǎn shàngmiàn yǒu zhī cāngying.

There is a fly on the ceiling.

Tatoeba

苍蝇和蚊子干扰了他的冥想。

Cāngying hé wénzi gānrǎo le tā de míngxiǎng.

Flies and mosquitoes interfered with his meditation.

Tatoeba

他把苍蝇拍走了。

Tā bǎ cāngyingpāi zǒu le.

He flapped the flies away.

Character Family

Homophones — Characters pronounced yíng

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 蝇 (yíng) mean in Chinese?
蝇 (yíng) primarily means "fly." It is classified as HSK Level 7-9, making it an expert-level character. It ranks #2582 in character frequency.
How many strokes does 蝇 have?
蝇 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 蝇?
The radical associated with 蝇 is 虫 (insect). This radical appears in many characters related to insect.
What are the components of 蝇?
蝇 is composed of: 虫 (structural), 黾 (structural). Its IDS decomposition is ⿰虫黾 with a left-right layout. Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.
What are common words containing 蝇?
Common words with 蝇 include: 苍蝇 (cāng ying, "housefly"); 果蝇 (guǒ yíng, "fruit fly"); 苍蝇拍 (cāng ying pāi, "flyswatter"); 蝇头小利 (yíng tóu xiǎo lì, "(idiom) meager profit"); 蝇营狗苟 (yíng yíng gǒu gǒu, "(lit.) to swarm like flies around rotten food and drag out an ignoble existence like a dog (idiom)"). There are over 19 compound words containing this character.
What characters sound the same as 蝇 (yíng)?
Several characters share the pronunciation yíng: 应 (should, to respond), 影 (picture), 英 (hero, England), 营 (camp), and 6 more. Context and tones help distinguish between them in speech and writing.
Is 蝇 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Yes, 蝇 is written the same way in both simplified and traditional Chinese.

Practice writing 蝇 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.