Chinese word

灵感

Pronunciation

Pinyinlíng gǎn

Meaning

  • nouninspiration

Example

我突然有了灵感，想出了解决办法。wǒ tū rán yǒu le líng gǎn xiǎng chū liǎo jiě jué bàn fǎ

I suddenly got some inspiration and came up with a solution.

Illustration for 灵感 (inspiration)

More examples

他常常从大自然中获得灵感。tā cháng cháng cóng dà zì rán zhōng huò dé líng gǎn

He often gets inspiration from nature.

Core concept

A quick inner spark that makes a new solution or creative direction suddenly clear.

Common phrases

  • 获得灵感huò dé líng gǎn

    get inspiration

  • 激发灵感jī fā líng gǎn

    spark inspiration

  • 灵感迸发líng gǎn bèng fā

    inspiration bursts forth

Similar words

点子diǎn zi: A simple, workable idea for dealing with a task or problem.
直觉zhí jué: A sense of knowing or judging something at once, without reasoning it out.

Definition in Chinese

突然涌现的创意或想法，通常持续时间短且具有启发性。tū rán yǒng xiàn de chuàng yì huò xiáng fǎ tōng cháng chí xù shí jiān duǎn qiě jù yǒu qǐ fā xìng

Word origin

灵感 (línggǎn, "inspiration") is built from 灵 (líng, "spirit or perceptiveness") and 感 (gǎn, "feeling"), so the compound presents a new thought as something sensed by an alert mind.

Usage tips

  • Its focus on sudden arrival makes it natural for a breakthrough during a task, while a direction formed through long planning has a different emphasis.

Other meanings

  • ideanoun
  • brainwavenoun

Opposites

  • 灵感枯竭líng gǎn kū jiéinspiration droughtnoun

Related words

  • 灵感来源líng gǎn lái yuánsource of inspirationnoun

Word lists with this word