陵

Topographical: A hill or mound, often characterized by an elongated or undulating shape.

Funerary/Institutional: A burial mound. While early usage may refer to a simple grave, it evolves into a formal mausoleum; by the Han period, it typically denotes an institutionalized site of imperial or high-status ancestral worship and power.

Primarily used as a noun. When appearing in a verbal position, it may function as a variant of 凌 (to ascend or overstep).

When distinguishing between terms for "mound" or "hill":

// Compared to 丘 (//qiū*): 陵 implies greater topographical prominence or social grandeur, whereas 丘 refers to smaller or more modest natural hills.

// Compared to 冢 (//zhǒng//) and 墳 (//fén*): These terms focus on the physical site of burial, while 陵 emphasizes scale or institutional status.

In early texts, this glyph is frequently interchangeable with 凌 (//líng//) in contexts involving physical movement (ascending/climbing) or social action (overstepping rank, insulting, or dominating).

Semantic variant: U+28EEA.

The radical 阜 anchors the glyph's association with topography.