咏 (yǒng): to sing

咏 (yǒng) is a Chinese character meaning “to sing.” Classified as HSK Level 7-9 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of 口 (semantic) and 永 (phonetic). It ranks #2920 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Etymologically derived, 咏 mouth. Its radical form 口 (mouth) appears in many related characters such as 口 (kǒu, mouth), 叫 (jiào, to call, to be called), 右 (yòu, (bound form) right).

Spoken pronunciation

HSK 7-9 Radical: 口 mouth8 strokesFrequency #2920口 semantic 永 phonetic

Definitions

to sing

Etymology & Origin

咏

pictophoneticmouth

Decomposition: ⿰口永 (layout: left-right)

Components:口semantic 永phonetic

Stroke Order

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

Words & Compounds

Common Compounds

Word	Pinyin	Meaning
咏叹调noun	yǒng tàn diào	aria
吟咏verb	yín yǒng	to recite
歌咏verb	gē yǒng	to sing
咏春拳noun	yǒng chūn quán	Yongchun - "Singing Spring Fist" (Chinese martial art)
咏春proper-noun	yǒng chūn	Wing Chun
袁咏仪	yuán yǒng yí	Anita Yuen (1971-), Hong Kong actress
谭咏麟	tán yǒng lín	Alan Tam (1950-), Hong Kong Canto-pop singer and actor

Total compounds

As first character

As last character

As middle character

咏 appears in 7 compound words: 43 as the first character, 29 as the last, and 29 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 咏 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.

叹tàn

0.625644 co-occurrences

裳cháng

0.606394 co-occurrences

吟yín

0.575500 co-occurrences

润rùn

0.464218 co-occurrences

诗shī

0.459504 co-occurrences

阁gé

0.437242 co-occurrences

陈chén

0.420486 co-occurrences

调diào

0.414638 co-occurrences

诵sòng

0.39934 co-occurrences

杨yáng

0.397268 co-occurrences

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

咏唱诗歌，抒发情感。

Yǒng chàng shīgē, shūfā qínggǎn.

Singing poetry to express emotions.

WorldjournalMar 2026

揭开多年短发秘密梁咏琪活在当下走出熟龄焦虑

jiē kāi duō nián duǎn fā mì mì liáng yǒng 琪 huó zài dāng xià zǒu chū shú líng jiāo lǜ

Unveiling the Secret Behind Her Years of Short Hair: Gigi Leung Lives in the Moment and Overcomes Midlife Anxiety

LtnMar 2026

...10大出炉!这档狂砍3.27万张最惨联咏、瑞昱全上榜

. . . 1 0 dà chū lú ! zhè dàng kuáng kǎn 3 . 2 7 wàn zhāng zuì cǎn lián yǒng , ruì 昱 quán shàng bǎng

...The Top 10 List Is Out! This Company Saw the Biggest Drop with 32,700 Shares Traded; LianYong and Realtek Both Made the List

Hk01.comFeb 2026

幻彩咏香江落幕罗淑佩称研办告别活动下半年推...

huàn cǎi yǒng xiāng jiāng luò mù luó 淑 pèi chèn yán bàn gào bié huó dòng xià bàn nián tuī . . .

The end of the colorful song of Hong Kong Luo Shupei said that the research and organization of the farewell event will be launched in the second half of the year...

NewsFeb 2026

...辉夫妻拍拖叹早茶被打扰真实反应见人品关咏荷素颜状态惊艳

. . . huī fū qī pāi tuō tàn zǎo chá bèi dǎ rǎo zhēn shí fǎn yīng jiàn rén pǐn guān yǒng hé sù yán zhuàng tài jīng yàn

... Hui and his wife sighed that morning tea was disturbed, and the real reaction saw the character Guan Yonghe's state without makeup was amazing

NewsFeb 2026

财政预算案| 幻彩咏香江将成历史市民叹惋惜冀增元素后保留

cái zhèng yù suàn àn huàn cǎi yǒng xiāng jiāng jiāng chéng lì shǐ shì mín tàn wǎn xī 冀 zēng yuán sù hòu bǎo liú

Budget | The Symphony of Lights will become history, and the public sighs and hopes to retain the elements after adding them

Character Family

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 咏 (yǒng) mean in Chinese?

咏 (yǒng) primarily means "to sing." It is classified as HSK Level 7-9, making it an expert-level character. It ranks #2920 in character frequency.

How many strokes does 咏 have?

咏 is written with 8 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 咏?

The radical associated with 咏 is 口 (mouth). This radical appears in many characters related to mouth.

What are the components of 咏?

咏 is composed of: 口 (semantic), 永 (phonetic). Its IDS decomposition is ⿰口永 with a left-right layout. Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.

What are common words containing 咏?

Common words with 咏 include: 咏叹调 (yǒng tàn diào, "aria"); 吟咏 (yín yǒng, "to recite"); 歌咏 (gē yǒng, "to sing"); 咏春拳 (yǒng chūn quán, "Yongchun - "Singing Spring Fist" (Chinese martial art)"); 咏春 (yǒng chūn, "Wing Chun"). There are over 7 compound words containing this character.

What characters sound the same as 咏 (yǒng)?

Several characters share the pronunciation yǒng: 泳 (swimming), 用 (to use), 永 (forever), 拥 (to hold in one's arms), and 5 more. Context and tones help distinguish between them in speech and writing.

Is 咏 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?

No. The simplified form is 咏 and the traditional form is 詠.

Practice writing 咏 with real-time feedback

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