Learn Chinese Characters

Meaning

woods; forest

Chinese: 树林、成片的树木。

Hear the Four Tones

The same syllable “lin” becomes a different word in each tone. 林 is the 2nd tone. Tap any tone to hear a native voice and see its pitch shape.

Stroke Order

Tap Animate to watch the strokes in order, or Practice to trace it yourself.

Common Words

  • 森林sēn línforest
  • 树林shù línwoods; grove; forest
  • 园林yuán língardens; park; landscape garden
  • 丛林cóng línjungle; thicket; forest; Buddhist monastery
  • 林地lín dìwoodland

Example Sentence

森林里住着各种各样的动物。Sēn lín lǐ zhù zhe gè zhǒng gè yàng de dòng wù.All kinds of animals live in the forest.

森林Sēn línforestinsidezhùto livezhe(ongoing action)各种各样gè zhǒng gè yàngvarious kindsdeof动物dòng wùanimal

Go deeper

Where this character comes from

Two trees (木 + 木) standing together: a wood or grove. It means ‘woods / forest’.

A way to remember it

Two trees side by side — a wood.

Easy to confuse with

  • sēn‘Dense forest’: three trees instead of two — even thicker woods.