píng

Píng is a Mandarin pinyin syllable that corresponds to several Chinese characters, and its meaning varies with the character chosen. The most common characters represented by píng include 平, 屏, 苹, 萍, and 评.

平 (píng) carries senses of level, flat, or even, and also connotations of calm or balance. It appears in many compounds such as 平坦 (píngtǎn) “flat,” 平衡 (pínghéng) “balance,” and 平等 (píngděng) “equality.” It is also used as a surname in Chinese.

屏 (píng) means “screen” or “to shield,” and occurs in terms like 屏幕 (píngmù) “screen” and 屏风 (píngfēng) “folding screen.”

苹 (píng) is the character found in 苹果 (píngguǒ), meaning “apple.” It also appears in botanical or compound contexts related to apples.

萍 (píng) denotes duckweed and is seen in expressions such as 浮萍 (fúpíng) “duckweed floating on water,” and in names and literary usage.

评 (píng) means “to comment” or “to evaluate,” and forms part of words such as 评价 (píngjià) “evaluation,” 评估 (pínggū) “assessment,” and 评论 (pínglùn) “commentary.”

Usage notes: píng is a common syllable in Chinese names, appearing in given names and, less frequently, as a surname. Because many characters share this pronunciation in the second tone, context or the specific character is needed to determine meaning. In other languages, the word “ping” may appear as an English loanword or name, but those uses are independent of the Chinese characters described here.