龄 (líng): age

Meanings

1 age
2 years (of experience)

Characters

龄

líng

age; years

Examples

HSK 1

你的年龄是多少？

Nǐ de niánlíng shì duōshǎo?

What is your age?

HSK 2

爷爷已经高龄了，但身体还很健康。

Yéye yǐjīng gāolíng le, dàn shēntǐ hái hěn jiànkāng.

Grandpa is already at an advanced age but still very healthy.

Tips

memory

齿 (tooth) + 令 (order). Age was once told by examining teeth.

Components

radical

齿 chǐ

tooth

Left tooth radical - pictograph of a mouth with teeth visible inside. In classical Chinese you read age from teeth (horse traders still count molars to date a horse). 龄 means 'age, years' precisely because dental wear is the natural calendar of a living thing.

phonetic

令 lìng

command; cause (phonetic)

Right 令 supplies the sound - lìng drifting to líng with tone change. 令 pictures a kneeling person receiving an order. Pure phonetic here; the command meaning has no link to age. Same phonetic in 玲, 铃, 零, 怜, all reading líng (or close) - a tight series.