凌 líng pure
pure; to bully
How to remember 凌: 冫 ice + 夌 climb over = pure. At dawn the jogger crosses the ice on the pond and has to climb over a frozen fence, breathing air that is totally pure.
Component breakdown
凌 = 冫 ice + 夌 climb over
- 冫 ice
- 夌 climb over
At dawn the jogger crosses the ice on the pond and has to climb over a frozen fence, breathing air that is totally pure.
How it is used
- Almost always bound. Key word: 凌晨 (língchén) = the small hours after midnight, before dawn - 凌晨三点 (língchén sān diǎn) 3 a.m.
- Also in 冰激凌 (bīngjīlíng) ice cream, purely phonetic there.
- Formal sense 'to override/bully' survives in 盛气凌人 (shèngqì-língrén) domineering, throwing one's weight around.