Writing Balance Rule: Ensure the movement component enfolding on the left and bottom gives stable support to the inner-right component without tipping too far right.
1. Meaning
to welcome or greet someone
to meet face to faceto head toward or forge ahead in the face of difficulties
Airflow Tactile Test: Acts as a bridge into 'i' or 'ü' vowel sounds.
Tongue & Mouth Position: Raise middle of tongue toward hard palate, gliding effortlessly into vowel.
Final Rhyme
ing
Vowel Group: -i vowel group
Sounds like: ying rhymes with the ending sound of 'ing' in 'sing'
Mouth Shape Guide: Pronounce as standalone vowel 'eeng'.
Common Learner Trap: Keep vowel quality steady across all 4 tone contours.
Abbreviated Rhyme Rule: Operates as a zero-initial syllable where 'y' acts as a semi-vowel glide transitioning into the '-ing' rhyme.
Tone
T2 (35)
3 → 5 (35)
2nd Tone (Mid-Rising)
Tone Pitch & Cadence: Tone 2 starts in the middle pitch and rises sharply to the top, exactly like asking 'What?' in English when you didn't hear someone.
Sandhi: When followed by another Tone 2, it shifts to a high level tone similar to Tone 1, though standard citation form remains rising 35.
👂
Listening trap: Learners often mistake the rising Tone 2 for Tone 1 (high level) when spoken quickly in conversational multi-syllable greetings.
👋
Physical Tone Gesture: Raise your hand upward and to the right, matching an inquisitive rising question intonation in English like 'Huh?' or 'Really?'
3. Writing
Topology: Semi-enclosure · Strokes: 7 strokes
Writing Balance Rule: Ensure the movement component enfolding on the left and bottom gives stable support to the inner-right component without tipping too far right.
4. Components
Radical⻌ · Walking Radical (Movement, motion, or travel)
Semantic Clue (形旁):⻌ (Indicates movement, walking out to meet someone)
Phonetic Clue (声旁):卬 (original sound: áng / yíng)
A walking radical (⻌) steps forward to meet the person represented by the phonetic part (卬), combining to mean 'welcoming' or 'meeting someone halfway'.
⻌ Walking / motion
卬 Phonetic clue providing the 'ying' sound
Phonetic Family (形声字家族)
4· Phonetic Root: 卬 (áng)
5. History
Liushu category: Phono-semantic (形声)
Origin: Originally combined the walking action symbol with a phonetic element representing a person lifting their head or turning to face incoming visitors.
Semantic Evolution: Shifted from the physical action of walking out to meet someone into the general emotional and social act of welcoming guests.
In ancient times, it specifically described greeting honored guests at the city gate or outskirts.
6. Sinosphere
🇯🇵
Kanji (Japanese)
On: ゲイ / Kun: むか.える
🇰🇷
Hanja (Korean)
영
7. Memory
Vivid Mnemonic Story
You put on your best suit and go walking (⻌) outward with high energy to warmly WELCOME your distinguished guest.
Phonetic Family (形声字家族)
仰
yǎngto look upUses the person radical (亻) instead of walking radical (⻌).
抑
yìto restrainUses the hand radical (扌) instead of walking radical (⻌).
Lookalikes & Traps (形近字)
柳(liǔ)
柳 has a tree radical (木) on the left meaning 'willow tree', whereas 迎 has the walking radical (⻌).
8. Mastery
Active Recall Challenge
我们在机场[___]远道而来的客人。
Clue: yíng
Common Learner Pitfall
Confusing the walking enclosure radical with the enclosure radical found in characters like 这 or 通, making mistakes on the final corner stroke.
Memory Prompts
Recognition: When you see 迎, what action does it represent?
Production: How do you write the character for 'to welcome' (yíng) using the walking radical?
Real-World Video Context
Watch authentic native speakers pronounce and explain this word in real-world YouTube videos.
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迎yíngto welcome, to meet
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