仃

dīng
adjective

Meanings

  1. 1 (in 伶仃) lonely; alone; without support

Examples

HSK 7-9
Fùmǔ qùshì hòu, zhè gū'ér gūkǔ-língdīng.
After his parents died, the orphan was left utterly alone.
HSK 7-9
Yì kē lǎoshù língdīng de lì zài cūnkǒu.
An old tree stands alone at the village entrance.

Tips

usage
A bound character that appears only in 伶仃 (lonely and helpless), most often in the four-character phrase 孤苦伶仃 ('orphaned and all alone'). The Lingding Channel in the Pearl River estuary uses these same characters.

Components

radical
亻 rén
person (left-side radical)
Standing-person radical on the left, side-form of 人. It marks this as a word about a person's state - here, being alone and unsupported. Same family as 伶 (its partner in 伶仃) and 你 you.
phonetic
丁 dīng
(4th heavenly stem); a nail; an adult
Right side 丁 supplies the sound dīng directly. Same phonetic in 盯 to stare and 钉 nail; it lends only its reading here.

Stroke Order

仃 dīng