龈 (yín): gums (of the teeth)

Meanings

1 gums (of the teeth)

Characters

龈

yín

gums

Examples

刷牙方法不当，时间长了会损伤牙龈。

Shuāyá fāngfǎ bùdàng, shíjiān cháng le huì sǔnshāng yáyín.

Brushing your teeth wrong over time can damage the gums.

牙龈出血常常是牙周病的早期信号。

Yáyín chūxuè chángcháng shì yázhōubìng de zǎoqī xìnhào.

Bleeding gums are often an early sign of periodontal disease.

牙医建议我做一次超声洁牙，清除龈下牙结石。

Yáyī jiànyì wǒ zuò yī cì chāoshēng jiéyá, qīngchú yínxià yájiéshí.

The dentist recommended I get an ultrasonic cleaning to remove tartar from below the gums.

Tips

usage

The everyday word is 牙龈 — the standard term for 'gums' in dentistry, health writing, and everyday speech. Common compounds: 牙龈炎 (gingivitis), 牙龈出血 (bleeding gums), 龈下 (subgingival), 龈乳头 (gingival papilla). The classical lexicon also includes 齿龈 — same meaning, more literary register, also used in phonetics for 'alveolar' (sounds made at the alveolar ridge).

mistakes

龈 has a second reading 龈 — an old variant of 啃 (to gnaw / nibble). Modern Chinese always writes 'gnaw' as 啃, so the kěn reading of 龈 survives only in classical texts. For the 'gums' sense (the everyday one) it is always yín.

Components

radical

齿 chǐ

tooth

Left tooth radical (Kangxi #211). The semantic anchor — the gums are the flesh in which teeth are set, so the radical naturally files 龈 in the dental anatomy family alongside 龇 (bare teeth), 龋 (decay), 齿 (tooth).

phonetic

艮 gěn

stop; tough; supplying the sound

Right phonetic 艮 — supplies the sound (gěn → yín / kěn, a regular shift). The same phonetic anchors 根 (root), 跟 (heel / with), 很 (very), 恨 (hate), 痕 (mark).