yìng / yīng
verb HSK 5 #1,713

Meanings

  1. 1 to answer; to respond
  2. 2 to comply with; to accept
  3. 3 to deal with; to cope with
  4. 4 to apply; to suit

Examples

HSK 1
Tā méiyǒu huíyìng.
He didn't respond.
HSK 3
Tā hěn kuài jiù néng shìyìng xīn huánjìng.
She adapts quickly to new environments.
HSK 5
Yìngyòng hěn guǎngfàn.
The application is very widespread.

Tips

usage
The action reading. Covers four overlapping senses: answer (回应, 应答), comply (应邀, 答应), handle (应付, 应对), and fit/apply (应用, 适应, 反应). All trace to one root: actively meeting something with a matching action.
mistakes
Two compounds neutralise the second char to toneless ying in spoken Mandarin: 答应 (agree) and 照应 (look after). Note 照应 keeps the full falling tone when it means 'correspond to' - same characters, different sense, different tone.

Components

radical
广 guǎng
shelter; dotted-cliff radical
Same shelter radical as the yīng reading - the split is phonological, not graphic. 广 indexes the char under Kangxi #53.
semantic
xiǎo
three small strokes (graphic residue)
Compressed remnant of traditional 's falcon-and-heart interior. The yìng reading derives from the same etymology - a trained falcon responding to its handler's call - preserved here only as graphic residue.
ideograph
horizontal base stroke
Closing horizontal base; identical role across both readings. Pure visual anchor, not semantic.

Stroke Order

yìng