How to Write 虰 (dīng) — Meaning “Ding (an insect-related character)”

Imagine a small insect (虫) sitting on a nail (丁), making a 'ding' sound as it taps the metal. The nail's shape like a T helps you recall the right side, and the 'ding' sound matches the pinyin. This silly picture links the visual parts and pronunciation together.

Write the radical 虫 first with its six strokes — the final dot should be placed neatly. Then add 丁, making sure the horizontal stroke of 丁 aligns slightly above the dot of 虫. A common mistake is making the 虫 too wide or drawing the 丁 too low, which makes the character unbalanced.

虫 is just the insect radical alone, meaning 'insect' or 'bug', while 虰 adds the component 丁 to create a different character. 虬 also uses the 虫 radical but has a curved stroke on the right (乚), meaning a hornless dragon, and is pronounced qiú. Visually, 虰's right side looks like the character 丁, whereas 虬's right side is a hook-like stroke.

虰 is extremely rare in modern Chinese and mostly appears in classical texts or as a component in the word 虰蛉 (dīng líng), an old term for dragonfly. It is not part of common vocabulary or HSK lists, so you will likely encounter it only in specialized literary or historical contexts.

Common words containing 虰 include: 虰 (dīng) — Ding (an insect-related character).