yíng
noun

Meanings

  1. 1 ocean
  2. 2 sea (literary)

Examples

Dōngyíng zhǐ de shì Rìběn.
Dōngyíng (the Eastern Ocean) refers to Japan.
Tā chéng chuán dù yíng, dōng yóu Rìběn.
He boarded a ship across the sea and travelled east to Japan.

Tips

culture
Almost never appears alone in modern Chinese — it lives inside compounds and proper names: (Dōngyíng, 'Eastern Sea' = literary name for Japan), (yínghǎi, the great ocean), and the legendary immortal isle (Yíngzhōu) said to lie in the East Sea. Common in poems, classical prose, and the personal names of writers and politicians.
memory
Notice the (water) radical on the left: anything to do with the sea. The right side is (yíng), the surname of Qin Shi Huang, which gives the pronunciation.

Stroke Order

yíng