xiāng

fragrant

Represents the sweet () smell of fresh grain ().

Components
禾 meaning component

  Meaning component

  

grain stalk

甘 meaning component

  Meaning component

gān

  

sweetness

Evolution

香 Oracle script (~1250-1000 BC)

Oracle script

(~1250-1000 BC)
香 Bronze script Mid Western Zhou (~900 BC)

Bronze script

Mid Western Zhou (~900 BC)
香 Seal script Shuowen (~100 AD)

Seal script

Shuowen (~100 AD)
香 Clerical script Cao Wei (Three Kingdoms: 222-280 AD)

Clerical script

Cao Wei (Three Kingdoms: 222-280 AD)
香 Regular script Modern

Regular script

Modern
Definitions

 

xiāng

fragrant, sweet-smelling; incense; fragrant; sweet smelling; aromatic; savory or appetizing; (to eat) with relish; (of sleep) sound; perfume or spice; joss or incense stick; CL:[gēn]

Most common words with 香
Freq.
Word
Meaning

香港

Hong Kong

fragrant

香槟

champagne (loanword)

香水

perfume

香蕉

banana

Component uses

Meaning component in 2 characters (0 verified)

Historical pronunciation

Old Chinese

Middle Chinese

Pinyin

Gloss

*qʰaŋ

xjang

xiāng

fragrance


Statistics

HSK level 3

Appears in 38.3630% of movies

924th most common character in movies

776th most common character in books

Miscellaneous

Strokes

9

Unicode

U+9999

Shuowen

“香,芳也。从黍,从甘。《春秋傳》曰:‘黍稷馨香。’”


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