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灵感 (líng gǎn) — inspiration; creative spark; insight

Definition

灵感 is a sudden flash of creative insight — the feeling or moment itself, not a finished product (that's 创意). It is more concrete and spontaneous than 心得 (reflective takeaways) or 领悟 (deep understanding).

noun
inspirationcreative sparkinsight

Examples

  • ，灵感。
    Xiě wén zhāng de shí hou, tā tū rán yǒu le líng gǎn.
    He suddenly got inspiration while writing an article.
  • 灵感。
    Zhè wèi yì shù jiā de líng gǎn lái zì dà zì rán.
    This artist's inspiration comes from nature.
  • 灵感，。
    líng gǎn Yì lái, tā jiù néng lián xù gōng zuò hǎo jǐ gè xiǎo shí.
    Once inspiration strikes, he can work for hours straight.

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língspiritual
感gǎnfeeling

“灵” as spiritual or clever and “感” as feeling together suggest a sudden creative spark.

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
心心xīnheart
Sound part声符shēngfú
咸
咸xián感gǎn
The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

感 pairs 咸, which gives the sound, with 心, the heart, for feeling.

Open 感 →
Appears in
HSK 3.0 Level 7-9HSK 2.0 Level 6Thinking & Cognition5000 Most Frequent Chinese Words

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