Definitions

líng used in 呤呤[líng líng]
lìng used in 嘌呤[piào lìng]; Taiwan pr. [líng]

Etymology phono-semantic

mouth

Semantic: Phonetic:

About

The character "呤" was devised in modern times for the phonetic transcription of foreign scientific vocabulary, specifically as a component in the compound "嘌呤" for the chemical base purine. Its structure is composed of the mouth radical "口" and the phonetic element "令", which jointly indicate a pronunciation close to "líng". As a phonetic loan character, it has remained confined to this technical application without developing additional semantic functions.