How to Write 凌 (líng) — Meaning “ice; to approach; to insult”

Imagine a person standing on a block of ice (冫) and climbing over (夌) a wall to approach someone and insult them. The pinyin "líng" sounds like "ling," so think of "Ling the ice climber." This combines the ice radical and the action of overstepping.

Start with the left radical 冫: write two dots close together (top dot then bottom-right dot). Then write the right part 夌: a narrow 土 (horizontal, vertical, horizontal) followed by 夂 (left-falling, horizontal, right-falling). A common mistake is making the two dots of 冫 too far apart or confusing them with the three-dot water radical 氵.

凌 has the ice radical 冫 (two dots) and right part 夌. 冼 has the water radical 氵 (three dots) and right part 先 — it is a surname, not related to ice. 冽 also uses the ice radical 冫 but its right part is 列 (liè), meaning "very cold," while 凌 has additional meanings like "to approach" and "to insult."

凌 appears in common words like 凌晨 (early morning before dawn), 欺凌 (to bully), and 冰凌 (icicle). It is also used in the idiom 壮志凌云, meaning "with great ambition to reach the clouds," where 凌 means "to rise above." Though not an HSK character, it is common in written and formal contexts.

Common words containing 凌 include: 凌晨 (líng chén) — early morning (before dawn); 欺凌 (qī líng) — to bully; to humiliate; 冰凌 (bīng líng) — Icicle.