Chinese Tattoo 鹰: Meaning, Strokes & Design Guide
The character 鹰 means "falcon; Accipiter species (various)" and is pronounced yīng. Below: its structure, the words it appears in, and how it works as a tattoo.
Quick facts
| Character | 鹰 |
| Pinyin | yīng |
| Meaning | falcon; Accipiter species (various) |
| Strokes | 18 |
| Radical | ⿃ (No. 196) |
| HSK level | newest-7 |
Words that contain 鹰
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning | HSK |
|---|---|---|---|
| 兀鹰 | wu4 ying1 | griffon vulture | — |
| 夜鹰 | ye4 ying1 | nightjar (nocturnal bird in the family Caprimulgidae) | — |
| 熊鹰 | xiong2 ying1 | see 鷹鵰|鹰雕[ying1 diao1] | — |
| 猎鹰 | lie4 ying1 | falcon | — |
| 秃鹰 | tu1 ying1 | vulture; condor | — |
| 老鹰 | lao3 ying1 | (coll.) eagle; hawk; any similar bird of prey | — |
Words and levels: HSK vocabulary list · meanings: CC-CEDICT.
Characters sharing the ⿃ radical
All of these share the ⿃ radical, so they are visually related — useful when you compare designs.
Placing 鹰
鹰 runs to 18 strokes, which is dense for a single character. At small sizes the inner strokes close up and the character stops being readable — this one wants a larger placement (upper back, thigh, forearm) rather than a wrist or ankle. Tell your artist the intended size before the stencil is cut, because a design that reads at 8 cm can collapse at 4 cm. Bring the stencil together with the pinyin and the meaning, and ask the artist to follow the stencil rather than redrawing the character freehand — freehand redrawing is the most common way a correct character loses a stroke and becomes a different one.
Design notes for 鹰
鹰 appears both on its own and inside compounds, so the sense depends on context; here it reads “falcon; Accipiter species (various)”. Regular script (楷书) keeps every stroke countable, which matters when a Chinese reader checks it. Avoid mirroring or rotating the character, and avoid very fine or cursive styles at small sizes, where strokes merge into a shape that reads as a different character.
Frequently asked questions
What does 鹰 mean?
鹰 (yīng) means “falcon; Accipiter species (various)”.
How is 鹰 pronounced?
鹰 is pronounced yīng in Mandarin.
How many strokes does 鹰 have?
鹰 has 18 strokes, under the ⿃ radical (No. 196).
How large should a 鹰 tattoo be?
With 18 strokes, 鹰 is moderately dense — it stays legible from roughly 4–5 cm upward. Shrinking it below that risks the strokes merging.
Which style works for 鹰?
Bold regular script (楷书) keeps the strokes clear. Semi-cursive (行书) adds flow but softens edges. Seal script looks classical but is harder for most readers to verify — use it only if a native reader has confirmed the rendering.
Is 鹰 common in modern Chinese?
Yes — 鹰 appears as a standalone HSK vocabulary item (newest-7), and in everyday words such as 兀鹰、夜鹰、熊鹰.
Should I use simplified or traditional 鹰?
鹰 is written the same in simplified and traditional Chinese, so there is no form to choose.
Want 鹰 as a ready-to-use stencil with a native-checked meaning card, sized for your tattoo artist?
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Character data: Unihan (Unicode) · words: HSK vocabulary & CC-CEDICT · How we verify this