陵 (líng) is a Chinese character meaning “hill”. It is written from 阝 (left form: mound (阜); right form: city or settlement (邑)) and 夌 (to cross over; to surpass), side by side, and takes 10 strokes.
Build the character for “hill; imperial tomb”
Four steps: break it apart, build it, recall it, use it in a word.
StartLearn this character
Structure
阝 + 夌
Left–right structure
- 阝 left form: mound (阜); right form: city or settlement (邑) · fù meaning
- 夌 to cross over; to surpass · líng sound
Structure from: 说文解字：陵，大𨸏也。从𨸏夌声。Modern IDS ⿰阝夌; strokes 2+8 cross-checked against hanzi-writer-data (阝 2, 夌 8, 陵 10)
Memory aid
A mound (阝) on the left, and 夌 "to cross over" on the right: a big mound you have to climb over is a hill — and hills are where emperors built their tombs.
This is a memory aid, not the historical origin.
Stroke order
10 strokes
In real words
- 丘陵qiū línghills; hilly land陵 = líng
- 陵墓líng mùtomb; mausoleum陵 = líng
Go deeper
All readings
hill; mound; imperial tomb
hill; mound; imperial tomb; mausoleum
大土山；帝王的坟墓。 — studyhanzi 编写
Words with this reading
- 丘陵qiū línghills; hilly land陵 = líng
- 陵墓líng mùtomb; mausoleum陵 = líng
Stroke data: hanzi-writer-data (Arphic Public License) · licenses & attributions
Questions people ask about this character
What does 陵 mean?
陵 (líng) means hill; mound; imperial tomb; mausoleum.
How do you pronounce 陵?
It is pronounced líng.
What parts is 陵 made of?
阝 (left form: mound (阜); right form: city or settlement (邑)) and 夌 (to cross over; to surpass), side by side. The recorded source is: 说文解字：陵，大𨸏也。从𨸏夌声。Modern IDS ⿰阝夌; strokes 2+8 cross-checked against hanzi-writer-data (阝 2, 夌 8, 陵 10). Components are the building blocks of the shape; the radical used for dictionary lookup is a separate thing.
How many strokes does 陵 have?
10. You can watch the stroke order on this page, or trace it yourself.
What is the radical of 陵?
阜. The radical is how the character is filed in a dictionary — it is not the whole story of how the character is built.
What words use 陵?
Common ones are 丘陵 and 陵墓. The reading of 陵 is not the same in every word, so each word on this page shows which reading applies.