菱 (líng): water caltrop; water chestnut

Meanings

秋天村民划船去湖里采菱角。

Qiūtiān cūnmín huáchuán qù húlǐ cǎi língjiao.

In autumn the villagers go out on the lake to gather water caltrops.

这地板的瓷砖拼成了菱形。

Zhè dìbǎn de cízhuān pīnchéng le língxíng.

The tiles on this floor are laid in a diamond pattern.

usage

菱 names the water caltrop, an aquatic plant whose horned nut is 菱角. Because that nut is diamond-shaped, 菱形 came to mean a rhombus.

radical

艹 cǎo

grass; plant (radical form)

Top grass radical 艹, the cap form of 草. It marks 菱 as a plant, here the aquatic water-caltrop.

phonetic

夌 líng

to dawdle (here phonetic)

Below sits 夌, which supplies the sound líng exactly. The same phonetic kernel appears in 陵 (hill) and 凌 (ice).

菱 líng