(yīng): should, to respond

(yīng) is a Chinese character meaning “should, to respond.” Classified as HSK Level 3 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of 广 (structural). It ranks #144 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Native pronunciation

Definitions

  1. should, to respond

Stroke Order

1
2
3
4
5
6
7

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

Words & Compounds

HSK Vocabulary with

WordPinyinMeaningHSK
verbyīng gāiought to3
verbdā yingto answer4
verb/nounfǎn yìngto react5
verbshì yìngto adapt4
verbyīng dāngshould5
verbgōng yìngto supply6
nounxiào yìngeffect (scientific phenomenon)6
verb/adjectiveyìng yòngto put to use5
verbyìng duìto answer5
verbxiāng yìngto correspond6
verb/adjectiveduì yìngto correspond (to)6
verbyìng pìnto accept a job offer4

Common Compounds

WordPinyinMeaning
yìng futo deal with
yīng déto deserve
huí yìngto respond
bào yìng(Buddhism) divine retribution
gǎn yìngresponse
yīng yǒuto deserve (attention, respect etc)
yìng jíto respond to an emergency
lǐ yīngshould
gōng yìng shāngsupplier
fǎn yìng duīreactor
xiǎng yìngto respond to
yìng zhēngto apply (for a job)
yìng chouto engage in social activities
jiē yìngto provide support
shì yìngwaiter
100
Total compounds
53
As first character
34
As last character
13
As middle character

appears in 100 compound words: 53 as the first character, 34 as the last, and 13 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.

fǎn
0.645312,852 co-occurrences
shì
0.57451,906 co-occurrences
duì
0.530179,946 co-occurrences
gāi
0.526133,167 co-occurrences
duī
0.51518,840 co-occurrences
yòng
0.505280,044 co-occurrences
xiǎng
0.50245,834 co-occurrences
0.47535,586 co-occurrences
gōng
0.47572,842 co-occurrences
0.46520,742 co-occurrences

Idioms & Chengyu (19)

bàoyìngbùshuǎngHSK 7+

karmic retribution is inevitable

phrase
gōngbùyìngqiúHSK 4+

be in short supply

phrase
guāngdiàn xiàoyìngHSK 4+

photoelectric effect

noun
liánsuǒ fǎnyìngHSK 5+

chain reaction

noun
liànshì fǎnyìngHSK 6+

chain reaction

noun
mǎn kǒu dā yingHSK 3+

to readily consent

phrase
mǎn kǒu yìng chéngHSK 5+

to promise readily

phrase
qióng yú yìng fùHSK 5+

to struggle to cope (with a situation); to be at one's wits' end

phrase
rèdǎo xiàoyìngHSK 6+

short for 城市熱島效應/城市热岛效应 (chéngshì rèdǎo xiàoyìng, “heat island effect”)

noun
suí jī xiào yìngHSK 4+

stochastic effect

phrase
suíjīyìngbiànHSK 4+

to adjust to changing circumstance; to act according to circumstances

phrase
wēnshì xiàoyìngHSK 4+

greenhouse effect

noun

Showing 12 of 19 idioms containing .

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

我们该按时完成任务,不能拖延。

Wǒmen yīnggāi ànshí wánchéng rènwu, bùnéng tuōyán.

We should complete tasks on time and not delay.

百度新闻Feb 2026

法国质疑 欧委会称受邀参加“和平委员会”...

huí yīng fǎ guó zhì yí ōu wěi huì chèn shòu yāo cān jiā hé píng wěi yuán huì . . .

In response to France's doubts, the European Commission said it was invited to participate in the "Peace Commission"...

百度新闻Feb 2026

...航空飞往台北航班遇大雾盘旋后折返,航司回:..

. . . háng kōng fēi wǎng tái běi háng bān yù dà wù pán xuán hòu shé fǎn , háng sī huí yīng . .

A flight bound for Taipei was forced to circle due to heavy fog before returning to its departure airport. The airline responded:

百度新闻Feb 2026

地域文化在国际中文教育中的

dì yù wén huā zài guó jì zhōng wén jiào yù zhōng de yīng yòng

The Application of Regional Culture in International Chinese Language Education

百度新闻Feb 2026

张艺谋回在电影《惊蛰无声》中“间谍在垃圾桶交接手...

zhāng yì móu huí yīng zài diàn yǐng jīng 蛰 mó shēng zhōng jiān dié zài lā jī tǒng jiāo jiē shǒu . . .

Zhang Yimou responds to the scene in the film Silent Spring where "spies exchange documents in a trash can..."

百度新闻Feb 2026

对话上门做年夜饭的“95后”女生:回春节当月收入..

duì huà shǎng mén zuò nián yè fàn de hòu nǚ shēng huí yīng chūn jié dāng yuè shōu rù . .

Conversation with a Post-95s Woman Who Cooks New Year's Eve Dinners at Clients' Homes: Responding to Her Monthly Income During the Spring Festival...

Tatoeba

该去看医生吗?

Wǒ yīnggāi qù kàn yīshēng ma?

Shall I go for the doctor?

Tatoeba

你觉得我们该为世界和平做些什么?

Nǐ juéde wǒmen yīnggāi wèi shìjièhépíng zuò xiē shénme?

What do you think we should do to make for world peace?

Tatoeba

该回信给他吗?

Wǒ yīnggāi huíxìn gěi tā ma?

Should I reply to his letter?

Tatoeba

看到了吧?你该学一门外语。

Kàn dào le ba? nǐ yīnggāi xué yī mén wàiyǔ.

You see? You must study a foreign language.

Character Family

Homophones — Characters pronounced yīng

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 应 (yīng) mean in Chinese?
应 (yīng) primarily means "should, to respond." It is classified as HSK Level 3, making it a beginner-level character. It ranks #144 in character frequency.
How many strokes does 应 have?
应 is written with 7 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 应?
The radical associated with 应 is 广 (shelter). This radical appears in many characters related to shelter.
What are the components of 应?
应 is composed of: 广 (structural), undefined (structural). Its IDS decomposition is ⿸广⿱⺍一 with a surround-from-upper-left layout. Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.
What are common words containing 应?
Common words with 应 include: 应该 (yīng gāi, "ought to"); 答应 (dā ying, "to answer"); 反应 (fǎn yìng, "to react"); 适应 (shì yìng, "to adapt"); 应付 (yìng fu, "to deal with"). There are over 100 compound words containing this character.
What characters sound the same as 应 (yīng)?
Several characters share the pronunciation yīng: 英 (hero, England), 婴 (infant), 鹰 (eagle), 迎 (to welcome), and 6 more. Context and tones help distinguish between them in speech and writing.
Is 应 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
No. The simplified form is 应 and the traditional form is 應.

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.