How to Write 影 (yǐng) — Meaning “shadow; image; movie”

Picture a movie screen: the left part 景 is a beautiful scene, and the right part 彡 looks like three thin shadows cast by the scene. You can also think of the word 电影 (diàn yǐng, 'movie') as 'electric shadows' moving on screen.

Start with the left component 景: write 日 (sun) first, then 京 (capital). The right part 彡 has three slanting strokes: the first two are short and the last one is longer and slightly curved. Common mistakes are making the 彡 too wide or spacing it unevenly from 景.

影 means 'shadow' or 'movie' and contains 景 (scene), while 彰 (zhāng) means 'clear' or 'evident' and contains 章 (chapter). Visually, 彡 appears on the right of 影 but on the left of 彰. They are rarely confused in usage because 影 is common in everyday words like 电影 and 影子, whereas 彰 appears in formal terms like 表彰 (to commend).

影 is very common in daily life, especially in 电影 (diàn yǐng, 'movie' or 'film') and 影子 (yǐng zi, 'shadow'). It also appears in 影响 (yǐng xiǎng, 'influence'), which is used for both positive and negative effects. Culturally, the word 电影 literally means 'electric shadow', reflecting the early Chinese perception of films as moving shadows.

Common words containing 影 include: 电影 (diàn yǐng) — movie; film; 影子 (yǐng zi) — shadow; 影响 (yǐng xiǎng) — influence; effect; to affect.