fāng
adjective #13,658

Meanings

  1. 1 fragrant; aromatic
  2. 2 (literary) virtuous; good

Examples

Huāyuánlǐ fāngxiāng sìyì.
The garden is filled with fragrance.

Tips

usage
is literary and poetic. It appears in many compound words: 芳香 (fragrance), 芳名 (your good name — polite), (youthful years). Also a common element in Chinese female names.

Components

radical
cǎo
grass; plant (top radical)
Top grass radical — the indexing component, marking as botanical. The character names the fragrance of grasses and flowers, and by extension 'fragrant, virtuous, sweet-smelling reputation' (芬芳 fragrant, 流芳百世 leave a lasting good name). Same radical heads flower, grass, sprout.
phonetic
fāng
square; direction (here phonetic)
Bottom supplies the sound — same fāng, same tone, a clean phonetic. itself depicts a plough with handles, but here it works purely as the sound anchor. Same phonetic locks the reading of fáng house, fáng defend, fàng release, 访 fǎng visit — a high-yield family to memorise.

Stroke Order

fāng