垠 meaning and stroke order
Boundary, river bank
How to write 垠, stroke by stroke
9 strokes in order. Each box adds the next stroke in red. Write top to bottom and left to right, and finish enclosing strokes last.
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Meaning of 垠
Definitions from CC-CEDICT, grouped by pronunciation.
- limit
- border
- river bank
How 垠 is built
Phono-semantic (sound + meaning) character. Earth.
土 gives the meaning and 艮 hints at the sound.
Radical: 土 (soil), shared by 183 characters on this site.
How to remember 垠
垠 combines 土 (earth) on the left with 艮 on the right, which gives the sound. Picture the strip of earth where land stops at a river: that edge of soil is the boundary.
垠 almost never appears alone in modern Chinese. You will mostly meet it in the literary word 无垠 (wúyín), meaning boundless, used to describe vast skies, seas, deserts or grasslands. Example: 一望无垠的草原 (yí wàng wú yín de cǎoyuán), a grassland stretching as far as the eye can see.
Common mistake: Learners often confuse 垠 with 银 (yín, silver) and 根 (gēn, root), which share the 艮 part. Remember that 垠 has 土 for earth and land, while 银 has 钅 for metal.
Common words with 垠
Ordered by HSK level, then by how often they appear in everyday Chinese.
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning | Level |
|---|---|---|---|
| 无垠 | wúyín | boundless; vast |
垠 in example sentences
Real sentences from the Tatoeba project, with pinyin and English.
Questions about 垠
How many strokes are in 垠?
垠 is written with 9 strokes. The diagrams on this page number every stroke in the order it is written, with the new stroke shown in red.
What does 垠 mean?
垠 (yín) means boundary, river bank. A common word with it is 无垠 (wúyín), meaning "boundless; vast".
How do you pronounce 垠?
垠 is pronounced yín, in the second tone (rising).
What is the radical of 垠?
The radical of 垠 is 土, which carries the idea of "soil". Dictionaries list 垠 under this radical.
What is the difference between 无垠 and 无边?
Both mean boundless, but 无垠 (wúyín) is more literary and poetic, often used in writing about landscapes. 无边 (wúbiān) is more common in everyday speech and also appears in idioms like 无边无际.
Can 垠 be used by itself to mean border?
In modern Chinese, not really. For a border or edge you would say 边界 (biānjiè) or 边 (biān), and for a river bank you would say 岸 (àn). 垠 survives mainly inside 无垠 and in classical texts.