How to Write 仃 (dīng) — Meaning “Alone or solitary”

Imagine a single person (亻) standing like a lonely nail (丁) stuck in the ground. The character looks like a person who is isolated, just a lone figure with no one around.

Stroke order: left vertical stroke first, then the short slash, then horizontal, and finally the hook stroke in 丁. A common mistake is making the right part 丁 too wide—keep it narrow so the whole character stays balanced, with the person radical on the left taking about one third.

仃 means ‘alone or solitary’ and appears only in words like 伶仃, while 亿 means ‘one hundred million’ and 什 means ‘ten’ or ‘what’. Visually, 亿 uses 乙 on the right, 什 uses 十, and 仃 uses 丁—so focus on the right side shape to tell them apart.

仃 is rarely used alone; it almost always appears in the word 伶仃 (língdīng), meaning ‘lonely and friendless’. You might see it in literature describing a solitary traveler or a deserted person, giving a poetic sense of isolation.

Common words containing 仃 include: 伶仃 (líng dīng) — lonely; solitary; 仃立 (dīng lì) — To stand alone; 仃伶 (dīng líng) — Lonely and solitary.