yíng
noun #27,350

Meanings

  1. 1 firefly
  2. 2 glow-worm

Examples

Xiàyè lǐ, yíng zài cǎocóng zhōng fēiwǔ.
On summer nights, fireflies dance among the grass.
Yíng de guāngmáng suī xiǎo, què zhàoliàng le hēi'àn.
Though the firefly's light is small, it illuminates the darkness.

Tips

culture
(fireflies) hold a special place in Chinese poetry and culture, symbolizing perseverance under hardship. The idiom (jù yíng yìng xuě, 'collecting fireflies and reading by snow') describes studying under difficult conditions.

Components

radical
cǎo
grass; plant (top radical)
Top grass radical — three compressed strokes for . As the indexing radical it tops in the botanical-and-creature radical family. The original traditional had twin flames above; the simplification swapped the fires for the grass cap, but the firefly meaning is unchanged.
semantic
cover; canopy
Middle — a horizontal canopy with hooks at each end. Originally this slot held the twin-flame element in the traditional ; the simplification reduced it to a cover. Reads as a small roof or shroud — the dim glow of a firefly hidden under leaves.
semantic
chóng
insect; small creature
Bottom — pictograph of a coiled snake, generalised to all insects. Carries the literal meaning: a firefly is a small flying insect. Same component groups with other insect chars: frog, bee, snake, butterfly, mosquito.

Stroke Order

yíng