娉

pīng
adjective

Meanings

  1. 1 graceful; of a slender woman's bearing

Examples

HSK 7-9
娉婷袅袅十三余。
Pīngtíng niǎoniǎo shísān yú.
A graceful girl of about thirteen.

Tips

history
娉 is not used independently in modern Chinese; it occurs almost only in the binome 娉婷 (slender and graceful), famous from Du Mu's Tang poem. It joins the woman radical 女 with the phonetic 甹, which also seeds 聘.
register
Literary and bound; appears only in 娉婷 and classical verse, not as a free word in speech.

Components

radical
女 nǚ
woman; female
The woman radical 女 on the left ties the word to describing a young woman - specifically her slender, graceful bearing.
phonetic
甹 pīng
phonetic element
Supplies the sound, matching the pīng reading. The same phonetic appears in 聘 and 骋; it carries no meaning here.

Stroke Order

娉 pīng