颖 (yǐng): head / ear of grain

Meanings

1 head / ear of grain
2 tip; pointed end (of an awl or brush)
3 (figurative) clever; intelligent; gifted

Characters

颖

yǐng

ear of grain; tip; clever

Examples

她从小聪明颖悟。

Tā cóngxiǎo cōngmíng yǐng wù.

She has been clever and quick-witted since childhood.

锥处囊中，颖脱而出。

Zhuī chǔ nángzhōng, yǐng tuō ér chū.

When an awl is placed in a bag, its point comes through (talent will out).

Tips

history

The chengyu 脱颖而出 (tuō yǐng ér chū, 'the tip pokes through') comes from 《史记·平原君虞卿列传》 (Records of the Grand Historian, Biography of Lord Pingyuan): when a young Mao Sui asked to join the Lord's diplomatic mission, Lord Pingyuan compared a man of talent to an awl in a bag — the point would inevitably poke through the cloth. Mao retorted that he had only just been put in the bag. Today the phrase means 'someone's outstanding talent suddenly becomes visible'.

memory

Three connected meanings, all radiating from 'pointed tip': (1) the awn/tip of a grain, (2) the writing tip of a brush or awl, (3) figuratively, the sharp tip of intellect — hence 颖悟 (yǐngwù, sharp-witted), 聪颖 (cōngyǐng, bright-minded). 颖 is also extremely common in given names for the same reason.

Components

radical

页 yè

head; page

Right side 页 is the indexing radical, originally pictographic for a human head. Many 页 characters relate to heads or topmost points (顶 peak, 颠 summit), and 颖 fits: the awn or tip is the 'head' of the grain stalk. The radical contributes the 'top-of' image.

semantic

匕 bǐ

spoon; ladle (here graphic)

Top-left 匕 originally pictured a spoon-like blade. Here it functions as a graphic stand-in for 'a small pointed object' — the same shape that gives 颖 its 'pointed tip; awn' sense. Stacked over the grain below, it marks the sharp end of a grain ear.

semantic

禾 hé

growing grain; cereal plant

Lower-left 禾 pictures a stalk of grain bowing with a heavy head. Combined with 匕 above, the left half captures 'the pointed top of a grain ear' — the literal sense of 颖 before it spread to 'pointed tip' generally and 'sharp-witted' figuratively.