龄 meaning and stroke order
Age; years
How to write 龄, stroke by stroke
13 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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- 13
Meaning of 龄
Definitions from CC-CEDICT, grouped by pronunciation.
- age
- length of experience, membership etc
How 龄 is built
Phono-semantic (sound + meaning) character. Age.
齿 gives the meaning and 令 hints at the sound.
Radical: 齿 (teeth), shared by 12 characters on this site.
How to remember 龄
龄 combines 齿 (chǐ, teeth) on the left with 令 (lìng) on the right, which gives the sound. Think of how you can tell a horse's age by looking at its teeth, so teeth plus 令 means age.
龄 rarely stands alone and usually appears in compounds like 年龄 (niánlíng, age) or 高龄 (gāolíng, advanced age). It can also mean length of experience, as in 工龄 (gōnglíng, years of service). Example: 你的年龄是多少？ (Nǐ de niánlíng shì duōshao?) What is your age?
Common mistake: Learners often write the right side as 今 (jīn) instead of 令 (lìng). 令 ends with a hooked stroke shaped like 卩, while 今 ends with a short horizontal and a bent stroke.
Common words with 龄
Ordered by HSK level, then by how often they appear in everyday Chinese.
龄 in example sentences
Real sentences from the Tatoeba project, with pinyin and English.
Questions about 龄
How many strokes are in 龄?
龄 is written with 13 strokes. The diagrams on this page number every stroke in the order it is written, with the new stroke shown in red.
What does 龄 mean?
龄 (líng) means age; years. A common word with it is 年龄 (niánlíng), meaning "(a person's) age".
How do you pronounce 龄?
龄 is pronounced líng, in the second tone (rising).
What is the radical of 龄?
The radical of 龄 is 齿, which carries the idea of "teeth". Dictionaries list 龄 under this radical.
What is the traditional form of 龄?
The traditional form of 龄 is 齡. Traditional characters are used in Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macau; 龄 is the simplified form used in mainland China and Singapore.
Is 龄 on the HSK exam?
Yes. 龄 is part of the HSK 5 character list in the HSK 3.0 standard.
Is 年龄 the normal way to ask someone's age?
年龄 is common on forms and in formal speech. In everyday conversation people usually ask 你多大？ (Nǐ duō dà?) or 您多大年纪？ (Nín duō dà niánjì?) for older people.
Why is 龄 in the word for bowling?
保龄球 (bǎolíngqiú) is a loanword where 保龄 imitates the sound of English "bowling". Here 龄 is used for its sound, not its meaning of age.