夌 (líng): to dawdle; to walk slowly (arch…

Meanings

1 to dawdle; to walk slowly (archaic)
2 to encroach; to overstep; to violate (archaic, root of 凌/陵)
3 Ling, father of Emperor Yao in mythology

Characters

夌

líng

to climb over; overstep (archaic)

Examples

神话传说夌为尧帝之父。

Shénhuà chuánshuō Líng wéi Yáodì zhī fù.

Mythological accounts say Ling was the father of Emperor Yao.

古文献中，夌是凌、陵的古字。

Gǔ wénxiàn zhōng, líng shì líng, líng de gǔzì.

In ancient texts, 夌 is the original of 凌 (to encroach) and 陵 (tomb mound).

Tips

history

夌 is the historic root of two common modern characters: 凌 (with ice radical = 'to encroach / overcome / ice') and 陵 (with mound radical = 'imperial tomb / hill'). The graph itself shows a person hauling himself up a steep step — 'overstep / climb over' is the underlying image. As a personal name in mythology, 夌 appears in some Han-era genealogies as Emperor Yao's father.

register

Archaic — definitions follow classical attestation only. Lives today purely as a phonetic component inside the productive 夌 series: 凌, 陵, 棱 (edge), 绫 (silk damask), 菱 (water chestnut).

Components

radical

夊 suī

slow walking foot

Bottom 夊 (Kangxi #35, slow-walking foot) — the foot element below shows the body climbing. Indexes 夌 alongside 夏 (summer, originally a stepping foot).

semantic

土 tǔ

earth; mound

Top 土-like element — etymologically a mound or step. Marks 'something high to climb over', the original sense of 夌.