yíng
verb HSK 7-9 #12,639

Meanings

  1. 1 to welcome; to greet
  2. 2 to meet; to receive
  3. 3 to face; to move towards

Examples

Huānyíng lái Zhōngguó!
Welcome to China!
Tā qù jīchǎng yíngjiē péngyou.
He went to the airport to meet his friend.
Yíngmiàn zǒu lái yígè rén.
Someone walked towards us from the front.

Tips

usage
is used in: 欢迎 (welcome), 迎接 (greet/receive), 迎面 (head-on/face to face), 迎合 (cater to). 欢迎光临 (Welcome!) is heard in every Chinese shop.

Components

radical
chuò
walk; advance (radical form of 辵)
Walking radical wrapping the bottom-left, the side form of — depicting steps along a path. Indexes in the motion family alongside to advance, to see off, to return. Names motion toward an arriving guest — going out to meet them rather than waiting at the door.
phonetic
áng
to raise the head; face upward (here phonetic + semantic)
Inner supplies the sound: áng drifted to yíng via vowel and finals change. itself depicts two people facing each other, one standing one kneeling — picture of meeting, looking up to greet. That face-to-face imagery dovetails perfectly with 's meaning: walking forward, raising the head to welcome whoever approaches.

Stroke Order

yíng