英

yīng

央 + 艹

Definitions

Yīng (noun,adjective) Britain; England; English

yīng (adjective) outstanding; excellent

yīng (noun) hero

Etymology

Phonosemantic compound. 艹 represents the meaning and 央 represents the sound.

Semantic: 艹 Phonetic: 央

About

The character 英 combines the grass radical 艹 (cǎo) at the top, indicating a plant-related meaning, with the phonetic component 央 (yāng, meaning "center") below. Its original sense was a flower, specifically a beautiful, fruitless blossom. From the image of a flower standing out among foliage, it developed metaphorical meanings for brilliance or a person of outstanding talent. This led to its common use in describing heroic or admirable qualities. Due to its pronunciation, it was also adopted as a phonetic loan for "England" or "English", which is now its most frequent modern usage.

Etymology Hide

Seal Spring and Autumn (771-476 BC)

Seal Chu (Warring States: 475-221 BC)

Seal Shuowen (~100 AD)

Clerical Western Han dynasty (202 BC-9 AD)

Seal Western Han dynasty (202 BC-9 AD)

Clerical Eastern Han dynasty (25-220 AD)

Traditional Modern

Simplified Modern

Example Sentences Hide

我喜欢英语。

Wǒ xǐhuān yīngyǔ.

I like English.

他来自英国。

Tā láizì yīngguó.

He comes from the UK.

英雄很勇敢。

Yīngxióng hěn yǒnggǎn.

Heroes are very brave.

我们每天学习英语。

Wǒmen měitiān xuéxí yīngyǔ.

We study English every day.

英国的首都是伦敦。

Yīngguó de shǒudū shì lúndūn.

The capital of the UK is London.

那位英雄救了很多人。

Nà wèi yīngxióng jiùle hěnduō rén.

That hero saved many people.

我的英语老师非常友好。

Wǒ de yīngyǔ lǎoshī fēicháng yǒuhǎo.

My English teacher is very friendly.

学习英语对国际交流很重要。

Xuéxí yīngyǔ duì guójì jiāoliú hěn zhòngyào.

Learning English is very important for international communication.

Related Characters

Composed characters:

Component: 央

Component: 艹

英