陵

líng
noun #21,101

Measure Word

一座陵 zuò

Meanings

  1. 1 mound
  2. 2 imperial tomb
  3. 3 hill
  4. 4 mountain

Examples

HSK 7-9
Míng Shísān Líng shì Míngcháo huángdì de língmù qún.
The Ming Tombs are a cluster of mausoleums for Ming dynasty emperors.
HSK 7-9
Zhōngshān Líng shì Sūn Zhōngshān xiānsheng de língmù.
Sun Yat-sen Mausoleum is the tomb of Dr. Sun Yat-sen.

Tips

culture
In Chinese, 陵 specifically denotes imperial or high-status mausoleums, not ordinary graves (those are 墓 or 坟). The character carries connotations of grandeur and royal burial sites.

Components

radical
阝 fù
mound; hill (left-side form)
阝 on the LEFT is the form of 阜 (mound) - the left-side 阝 always means "hill, earthen rise," distinct from the right-side 阝 which means "city." 陵 names tomb mounds and natural hills alike; same left-阝 family in 阶, 阵, 险.
phonetic
夌 líng
mound; to mount (phonetic stem)
夌 supplies the sound líng exactly. It also doubles semantically - 夌 itself pictures a person stepping over a mound. So 陵 piles a "hill" on a "hill-climbing" element, doubling the elevation imagery. See also 凌, 菱, 绫 sharing this phonetic.

Stroke Order

陵 líng