康

kāng
adjective #4,695

Meanings

  1. 1 healthy; peaceful
  2. 2 abundant

Examples

HSK 3
Xiǎokāng shēnghuó.
A moderately prosperous life.
HSK 4
Zhù nǐ shēntǐ jiànkāng!
Wish you good health!

Tips

usage
康 mainly appears in 健康 (healthy/health). Also in 小康 (moderately prosperous - a key political term in China), 康复 (to recover). Common surname (e.g., 康熙, Kangxi Emperor).

Components

radical
广 guǎng
shelter; lean-to (radical)
Top-left shelter radical (Kangxi #53) - depicts a roof leaning against a wall. Indexes 康 in the architecture-and-state family with 庄, 庭, 库. Originally 康 had no roof and was the picture of grain being threshed; the 广 was added later to anchor the meaning to a place of plentiful storage - a peaceful, prosperous home.
phonetic
隶 lì
to follow; subordinate
Inside 隶 - graphically the inner component, historically the residue of an older shape showing grain being threshed: a hand 又 holding a stalk with kernels falling away as scattered dots. Modern 隶 has converged with the 隶 'subordinate' character but here it is the threshing scene that gives 'plentiful, peaceful, healthy' - the harvest is in, all is well.

Stroke Order

康 kāng