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灵光 (líng guāng) — (Buddhist) divine light or innate inclination for goodness; halo or nimbus around a deity image; (colloquial) wonderful, excellent, brilliant

Definition

Literally 'spirit-light': in Buddhism, an innate capacity for good and the radiant halo on a Buddha image. In modern colloquial use it means a flash of brilliance or a clever idea — e.g. '真灵光!' = 'genius!'

noun
(Buddhist) divine light or innate inclination for goodnesshalo or nimbus around a deity image(colloquial) wonderfulexcellentbrilliant

Examples

  • 灵光！
    Zhè ge zhǔ yì zhēn líng guāng!
    This idea is really brilliant!
  • 灵光。
    Fó xiàng de tóu dǐng yǒu yì quān líng guāng.
    There is a halo around the Buddha statue's head.
  • 灵光。
    Shān dòng lǐ tū rán fā chū le yí dào líng guāng.
    A divine light suddenly emitted from the cave.

Origin

Compound word
构词法gòucífǎ
偏正piānzhèngModifier + head

The first part narrows down the second: it says what kind of thing the head is.

灵língdivine
光guānglight

'灵' divine + '光' light; a divine light, hence brilliance.

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 →

Two or more meaningful parts placed together so that their meanings combine into a new one.

  • 火火huǒfire
  • 卩卩jiékneeling person

The shape 光 places 火 (fire) above 卩 (a kneeling person), showing fire over the head and the shining of light.

Open 光 →
Appears in
Religion & Belief

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