The kanji 陵 primarily represents a "tomb," "mausoleum," or "imperial tomb." It conveys a sense of burial, memorialization, and often, the resting place of important figures like emperors or leaders. It also implies a raised structure or mound.

・On-yomi (音読み): リョウ (ryō) ・Kun-yomi (訓読み): みささぎ (misasagi) - This reading specifically means "imperial tomb."

⚫︎ 陵墓 Translation: Imperial tomb; mausoleum ⚫︎ 天皇陵 Translation: Imperial tomb ⚫︎ 御陵 Translation: Imperial tomb (honorific)

The kanji 陵 is a phono-semantic compound (形声文字). It combines two components: ⚫︎ The left side is 阝 (also written as 阜), which is a variant of 阜 and indicates "mound," "hill," or "slope." It acts as the semantic component, providing the meaning related to raised ground. ⚫︎ The right side is 夌 (ryō), which acts as the phonetic component, indicating the pronunciation リョウ (ryō). Therefore, 陵 visually represents a raised mound or hill, associating it with a burial place or tomb.