荧 (yíng): a glimmer, glimmering, twinkling

荧 (yíng) is a Chinese character meaning “a glimmer.” Classified as HSK Level 7-9 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of 艹 (structural), 冖 (structural) and 火 (semantic). It ranks #2905 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Etymologically derived, 荧 fire. Its radical form 艹 (grass) appears in many related characters such as 花 (huā, flower), 茶 (chá, tea), 菜 (cài, vegetable, dish).

Spoken pronunciation

Definitions

  1. a glimmer
  2. glimmering
  3. twinkling

Etymology & Origin

荧

pictophoneticfire

Decomposition: ⿱艹⿱冖火 (layout: top-bottom)

Stroke Order

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9

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

Words & Compounds

Common Compounds

WordPinyinMeaning
荧光nounyíng guāngfluorescence
荧幕nounyíng mùTV screen
荧屏yíng píngfluorescent screen
荧光灯nounyíng guāng dēnga fluorescent light
荧光屏nounyíng guāng píngfluorescent screen
荧光笔nounyíng guāng bǐhighlighter pen
荧光幕yíng guāng mùscreen (of a TV, computer etc) (Tw)
荧惑星yíng huò xīngMars in traditional Chinese astronomy
荧光棒nounyíng guāng bàngglow stick
金碧荧煌jīn bì yíng huángsplendid in green and gold (idiom)
荧惑proper-nounyíng huòto bewilder
荧荧adjectiveyíng yínga glimmer
12
Total compounds
92
As first character
0
As last character
8
As middle character

荧 appears in 12 compound words: 92 as the first character, 0 as the last, and 8 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 荧 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.

光guāng
0.5352,756 co-occurrences
侣lǚ
0.534184 co-occurrences
屏píng
0.531618 co-occurrences
惑huò
0.511256 co-occurrences
幕mù
0.502847 co-occurrences
灯dēng
0.497254 co-occurrences
绿lǜ
0.408118 co-occurrences
谱pǔ
0.38962 co-occurrences
搬bān
0.38388 co-occurrences
烛zhú
0.37510 co-occurrences

Idioms & Chengyu (1)

金碧荧煌jīn bì yíng huángHSK 7+

splendid in green and gold (idiom); looking radiant

phrase

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

学习荧字需要反复练习,才能写得工整。

xué xí yíng zì xū yāo fǎn fù liàn xí , cái néng xiě dé gōng zhěng .

Mastering the character "荧" requires repeated practice to write it neatly.

中国新闻网·文化Aug 2026

换句话说,它被锁定在荧屏上。

huàn jù huà shuō , tā bèi suǒ dìng zài yíng bǐng shàng .

In other words, it's locked onto the screen.

中国新闻网·文化Aug 2026

那是郑国霖最稳固的荧幕标签,也是他至今仍被大众记住的核心原因。

nà shì zhèng guó 霖 zuì wěn gù de yíng mù biāo qiān , yě shì tā zhì jīn réng bèi dà zhòng jì zhù de hé xīn yuán yīn .

That is Zheng Guolin’s most enduring on-screen persona, and it is also the main reason why the public still remembers him today.

爱范儿Jul 2026

具体要求: 视觉风格:深色调背景,使用荧光蓝、霓虹绿和警示橙作为主配色。

jù tǐ yāo qiú : shì jué fēng gé : shēn sè diào bèi jǐng , shǐ yòng yíng guāng lán , 霓 hóng lǜ hé jǐng shì chéng zuò wéi zhǔ pèi sè .

Specific Requirements: Visual Style: Dark-toned background, using fluorescent blue, neon green, and warning orange as the primary color scheme.

SmzdmApr 2026

...媒痛批:“粉底液将军”世界都在打仗,我们荧幕却在“补妆”?

. . . méi tòng pī : fěn de yè jiāng jūn shì jiè dōu zài dǎ zhàng , wǒ men yíng mù què zài bǔ zhuāng ?

...The media harshly criticized: "While the world is at war, are we just 'touching up our makeup' on screen?"

Hk01.comMar 2026

...哥哥义拍神作《流星语》4K修复版将重现大荧幕

. . . gē gē yì pāi shén zuò liú xīng yǔ 4 K xiū fù bǎn jiāng chóng xiàn dà yíng mù

...Brother Yi's masterpiece *The Language of the Meteor* will return to the big screen in a 4K restored version

Character Family

Semantic Family — Characters sharing the 火 (fire) component

Homophones — Characters pronounced yíng

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 荧 (yíng) mean in Chinese?
荧 (yíng) primarily means "a glimmer." It is classified as HSK Level 7-9, making it an expert-level character. It ranks #2905 in character frequency.
How many strokes does 荧 have?
荧 is written with 9 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 荧?
The radical associated with 荧 is 艹 (grass). This radical appears in many characters related to grass.
What are the components of 荧?
荧 is composed of: 艹 (structural), 冖 (structural), 火 (semantic). Its IDS decomposition is ⿱艹⿱冖火 with a top-bottom layout. Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.
What are common words containing 荧?
Common words with 荧 include: 荧光 (yíng guāng, "fluorescence"); 荧幕 (yíng mù, "TV screen"); 荧屏 (yíng píng, "fluorescent screen"); 荧光灯 (yíng guāng dēng, "a fluorescent light"); 荧光屏 (yíng guāng píng, "fluorescent screen"). There are over 12 compound words containing this character.
What characters sound the same as 荧 (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 荧 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Yes, 荧 is written the same way in both simplified and traditional Chinese.

Practice writing 荧 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.