荧 (yíng) · glimmering; twinkling

Meanings

1 glimmering; twinkling
2 fluorescent (in compounds)
3 (arch.) firefly light; planet Mars

Characters

荧

yíng

glimmer; fluorescent (radical 艹 grass, 9 strokes)

Examples

HSK 7-9

夜空中星光荧荧。

Yèkōng zhōng xīngguāng yíng yíng.

Starlight twinkles in the night sky.

HSK 7-9

电视荧屏上出现了她的名字。

Diànshì yíngpíng shàng chūxiàn le tā de míngzi.

Her name appeared on the TV screen.

Tips

usage

On its own 荧 is rare; you'll usually meet it in compounds: 荧光 (fluorescent light), 荧屏 (TV/computer screen), 荧荧 (glimmering). The original meaning is the faint light of a candle or firefly.

memory

Spot the 艹 (grass) radical on top - a hint at its old link to 萤 (firefly), which has the same lower component. Both come from the image of tiny lights flickering in grass at night.

Components

radical

艹 cǎo

grass; vegetation

艹 is the indexing top grass radical, but here it is graphic residue from the simplification of 熒 - the original had two 火 stacked at the top, and the 1956 reform compressed that double-fire into the simpler 艹 silhouette. Read it as stylised flames, not literal grass.

semantic

冖 mì

cover; cap

冖 is the cover radical, a flat lid drawn across the middle. It separates the flames above from the fire below - picturing a shielded flame, the kind of hooded glow that lights up softly in the dark. The whole graph reads as a covered light, fitting 荧's firefly meaning.

semantic

火 huǒ

fire

火 sits at the base in its full standalone form - the literal fire under the cover. Together with the flame-residue 艹 above and lid 冖 in the middle, it completes the lantern-glow picture: a shielded blaze that becomes the metaphor for fluorescent light and firefly luminescence (荧光, 荧屏).