绫 (líng): silk damask

Meanings

1 silk damask
2 a type of fine, thin patterned silk

Characters

绫

líng

silk damask / thin patterned silk

Examples

她穿着一件绫罗绸缎做的旗袍。

Tā chuānzhe yī jiàn líng luó chóuduàn zuò de qípáo.

She wore a qipao made of silk damask and satin.

绫是古代贵族常用的布料。

Líng shì gǔdài guìzú chángyòng de bùliào.

Silk damask was a fabric commonly used by the ancient nobility.

Tips

history

绫 is a traditional Chinese textile, a thin lustrous silk with a twill or jacquard weave. It appears in the classic four-silk set 绫罗绸缎 (líng luó chóu duàn), which lists four types of fine silk in ascending order of thickness and weight, representing luxury fabrics in classical Chinese culture.

Components

radical

纟 sī

silk thread (left-side form)

纟 is the silk radical 糸 in left-side form. It marks 绫 as a textile, specifically a thin patterned damask silk, and groups it with 绸 (silk), 缎 (satin), and 锦 (brocade) — all woven luxuries of the silk family.

phonetic

夌 líng

to encroach; mound

夌 supplies the reading líng directly with no shift. The same phonetic surfaces in 陵 (tomb mound), 凌 (overstep), and 菱 (water-chestnut), all clustered around the ling syllable family.