灵 líng spirit

spirit; soul

怎么记住“灵”: 𫜹 snout + 火 fire = spirit. The old dog rests its grey snout near the camp fire, and grandma says no dog ever had such a gentle spirit.

部件结构

灵 = 𫜹 snout + 火 fire

Gushi 故事

The old dog rests its grey snout near the camp fire, and grandma says no dog ever had such a gentle spirit.

Covers both "spirit/soul" (心灵 xīnlíng, the mind/heart/soul, as opposed to the body) and "clever, quick-witted" (机灵 jīling, 灵活 línghuó "flexible/nimble").
灵活 línghuó is the everyday word for flexibility, used for both people's thinking and policies/schedules: 时间很灵活 (shíjiān hěn línghuó) - "the schedule is flexible."
失灵 shīlíng means a mechanism has malfunctioned or stopped working (刹车失灵 shāchē shīlíng - "the brakes failed"), a different, mechanical sense from the spiritual/mental ones.
灵感 línggǎn (inspiration) is the standard word artists and writers use for creative inspiration.