yuánzì Chinese characters of the chemical elements
轻

轻 qīng

“light; easy, simple; gentle”

On its own, an ordinary character; Cantonese hing1. Readings and gloss from the Unicode Unihan database.

Carries Hydrogen

气 gas → gas
+
轻 qīng
=
氢 qīng · H 1

Not a plain transliteration: the component was chosen for its meaning, or the name is older than the system.

The element keeps the component’s reading exactly.