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灵性 (líng xìng) — spiritual intelligence; the quality of being sentient or soulful (often of animals or perceptive people)

Definition

灵性 names the soulful, perceptive quality in animals, people, or art — an intuitive sensitivity beyond pure cleverness (聪明). Often used of pets that seem to read emotions or of works that feel alive with spirit.

noun
spiritual intelligencethe quality of being sentient or soulful (often of animals or perceptive people)

Examples

  • 灵性。
    Xùn liàn yǒu sù de jǐng quǎn biǎo xiàn chū jīng rén de líng xìng.
    Well-trained police dogs display astonishing spiritual intelligence.
  • 灵性，。
    Tā yǎng de māo hěn yǒu líng xìng, hǎo xiàng néng dú dǒng rén de qíng xù.
    The cat she keeps is very soulful, as if it can read people's emotions.
  • 灵性。
    Zhè fú shān shuǐ huà chōng mǎn le zì rán zhī líng xìng.
    This landscape painting is filled with the spiritual quality of nature.

Origin

Derived word
构词法gòucífǎ
后缀hòuzhuìSuffix

A fixed syllable at the end that turns the word into a noun, a person, a place or the like.

灵língspiritual
性xìngquality

灵 (spiritual) and 性 (quality) together name lively intelligence.

Characters in this word

Most characters — around four in five — are built this way: one part hints at the meaning, the other at the pronunciation.

This origin belongs to the traditional form 靈; 灵 is its simplified writing.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
玉玉yùjade
Sound part声符shēngfú
霝
霝líng靈líng
Same sound today

This note describes the traditional form 靈, not the simplified 灵: 霝 gives the sound, and 玉 (jade) is the meaning part.

Open 灵 →

Most characters — around four in five — are built this way: one part hints at the meaning, the other at the pronunciation.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
忄Written in full as心xīnheart
Sound part声符shēngfú
生
生shēng性xìng
The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

性 is built from 忄 (the heart) and 生 (a sound clue). The heart part connects the word to a person's inner nature or quality.

Open 性 →
Appears in
Abstract ConceptsReligion & Belief

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