xiān / lián
noun

Meanings

  1. 1 (in 豨莶) St. Paul's wort, a medicinal herb

Examples

HSK 7-9
Xīxiān zài zhōngyī lǐ yònglái qū fēngshī.
St. Paul's wort is used in Chinese medicine to dispel wind and damp.
HSK 7-9
Yīshēng gěi tā kāi le xiē xīxiāncǎo zhì guānjié tòng.
The doctor prescribed some St. Paul's wort herb for his joint pain.

Tips

usage
In the xiān reading, is a bound character used only in 豨莶 (St. Paul's wort), a common rheumatism herb. A separate reading lián exists where it is a variant of .

Components

radical
cǎo
grass; plant
is the grass radical on top, the standard marker for plant and herb names - fitting for the medicinal .
phonetic
qiān
all; together
under the grass radical is the phonetic; the reading shifted to xiān (and lián). The same element appears in and .

Stroke Order

xiān