HSK 5 · Adjectives

灵活 línghuó “flexible” in Chinese

Traditional 靈活

What 灵活 means

  1. flexible
  2. nimble
  3. agile

How to say 灵活

  • Pitch chart of the second tone: rises from mid to high, 3 to 5 on the five-level scale灵líng2nd tone, rising
  • Pitch chart of the second tone: rises from mid to high, 3 to 5 on the five-level scale活huó2nd tone, rising

灵活 in a sentence

  1. 弹钢琴需要手指灵活。

    Tán gāngqín xūyào shǒuzhǐ línghuó.

    Playing the piano requires nimble fingers.

    Sentence #12487859 from Tatoeba · converted to simplified characters · translation adapted

  2. 他是一个脑子灵活的人。

    Tā shì yí ge nǎozi línghuó de rén.

    He’s a quick-witted person.

    Sentence #349552 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

How 灵活 is built

Each colour is one part of the character. Parts repeat across thousands of characters, so learning them makes new words easier. See all 214 in our radicals chart.

The character 灵 (líng) with each of its parts in a different colour
灵língquick
  • 彐snout · jìSound part
  • 火fire · huǒMeaning part

火 hints at the meaning (fire); 彐 (jì) hints at the sound. Compare it with líng.

The character 活 (huó) with each of its parts in a different colour
活huóto live
  • 氵water form of 水 · shuǐMeaning part
  • 舌tongue · shéSound part

氵 hints at the meaning (water); 舌 (shé) hints at the sound. Compare it with huó.

How to write 灵活

灵 7 strokes · 活 9 strokes

Watch the order, then press Try writing it and draw each stroke in the grid. Each stroke is checked as you go.

灵活 (línghuó) stroke order chart: each stroke of the characters in the order you write them
Stroke order chart for 灵活 (línghuó). Red marks the next stroke, so you can copy it onto paper one step at a time.

Words related to 灵活

Words with 灵

机灵jīling · clever灵敏língmǐn · sensitive心灵xīnlíng · heart灵感línggǎn · inspiration灵魂línghún · soul

Words with 活

活huó · to live活动huódòng · activity生活shēnghuó · to live活泼huópo · lively活跃huóyuè · active干活儿gànhuór · to work活该huógāi · serves (someone) right快活kuàihuo · happy复活fùhuó · to come back to life活力huólì · vitality

More words: Adjectives

老实lǎoshi · honest乐观lèguān · optimistic了不起liǎobuqǐ · amazing良好liánghǎo · good密切mìqiè · close苗条miáotiao · (of a woman) slim明显míngxiǎn · clear模糊móhu · vague

FAQs

灵活 (línghuó) means “flexible” or “nimble”. It is an HSK 5 word.
Say it línghuó: líng with a 2nd tone, then huó with a 2nd tone. Press Listen at the top of this page to hear it, or Slowly to hear each tone clearly.
In Traditional characters, used in Taiwan and Hong Kong, 灵活 is written 靈活. The pronunciation is the same.
Add a Chinese (Simplified) pinyin keyboard to your phone or computer, type linghuo with no tone marks or spaces, then choose 灵活 from the suggestions. Typing linghuo into this dictionary’s search box finds it too.
灵活 is an HSK 5 word in the HSK 2.0 word lists.

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Sources: meaning and pinyin checked by a native Mandarin teacher against the official HSK lists. Extra meanings from CC-CEDICT (CC BY-SA 4.0). Example sentences from Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR). Character parts and stroke order from Make Me a Hanzi.