How to Write 陉 (xíng) — Meaning “mountain pass”

Picture a hill (阝) with a winding mountain stream (巠 looks like flowing water) cutting through it to form a pass. The stream's path is the pass, so the hill and stream together create 陉.

The left radical 阝 must be written with two strokes: first a horizontal fold with a small hook, then a vertical line. The right part 巠 has seven strokes total, and students often forget the third horizontal stroke inside the top part of 巠, so count carefully.

陉 uses the hill radical 阝 and means a mountain pass, while 邗 and 邘 use the city radical 阝 (right side) and are ancient place names. Visually, 陉's right side is 巠, but 邗 has 干 and 邘 has 于, so the top strokes differ.

陉 is rarely used alone today, but it appears in the place name 井陉 (Jǐngxíng), a county in Hebei Province famous for the 井陉 Pass, a strategic mountain pass in ancient battles. It also appears in classical poetry describing rugged terrain.

Common words containing 陉 include: 井陉 (jǐng xíng) — Jingxing (a place name); 山陉 (shān xíng) — Mountain pass; 陉口 (xíng kǒu) — mouth of a mountain pass.