How to Write 囹 (líng) — Meaning “Prison / Enclosure”

Imagine an enclosure (囗) where a leader gives commands (令), but if you are inside, you are trapped — it's a prison. You can also think of "ling" as sounding like "link" — you are linked inside an enclosure, unable to escape.

Write the outer box 囗 first with three strokes (left vertical, top horizontal, then bottom and right as one stroke). Inside, write 令 carefully so it is centered; a common mistake is making the inner part too large or touching the outer box. Keep the vertical strokes of 令 inside clear and not extending beyond the enclosure.

囹 has 令 (command) inside the enclosure and means prison. 囝 has 子 (child) inside and is a rare character for "son" in some dialects. 回 is an enclosure with inner strokes that mean "to return" or "a time". Visually, 囹's inner part has 人 and a dot, while 囝 has a child radical and 回 has two concentric squares.

囹 is almost always used in the compound 囹圄 (líng yǔ) meaning prison or jail, which appears in formal writing, news, and classical idioms like 身陷囹圄 (to be thrown into prison). It is not common in everyday conversation — you would instead use 监狱 for "prison" — but 囹圄 carries a more literary or serious tone.

Common words containing 囹 include: 囹圄 (líng yǔ) — Prison / Jail; 囹圄之苦 (líng yǔ zhī kǔ) — The suffering of imprisonment; 囹圄之灾 (líng yǔ zhī zāi) — The disaster of imprisonment.