香 (xiāng) · fragrant, sweet-smelling

Meanings

1 fragrant
2 sweet-smelling
3 appetizing; delicious

Characters

香

xiāng

fragrant; delicious

Combines 禾 (grain) with 日 (sun) - the fragrance of grain ripening in the sun.

Examples

HSK 2

饭好香啊！

Fàn hǎo xiāng a!

The food smells so appetizing!

HSK 5

这朵花很香。

Zhè duǒ huā hěn xiāng.

This flower smells wonderful.

HSK 5

宝宝睡得很香。

Bǎobao shuì de hěn xiāng.

The baby is sleeping soundly.

Tips

usage

香 has a wider range than English 'fragrant.' It covers nice smells (花很香), tasty food (菜真香), and even sound sleep (睡得香). The opposite is 臭 (stinky).

culture

真香 ('it's actually great') became a huge internet meme in China - used when someone reluctantly tries something and ends up loving it.

Components

semantic

禾 hé

grain; growing rice

Top 禾 - pictograph of a rice plant bending under the weight of its ripe head. Carries the 'fragrant grain' image central to 香: cooked millet and rice were the prototypical pleasant smells in early Chinese kitchens. Same family as 秋 (autumn - fire under grain), 稻 (paddy rice), 秀 (refined). Grain over heat = aroma.

semantic

日 rì

sun (here: vessel/contraction)

Bottom 日 - graphically the sun, but in 香 it is a graphic contraction of 甘 (sweet, a mouth holding a tasty thing) from the older form. Functions as the receiving mouth or cooking vessel under the grain above. The combined picture is grain over sweet/mouth, capturing the moment fragrance rises from cooked rice - 香's indexing self-radical (Kangxi #186).

Radical

Fragrance Kangxi #186

A small radical for fragrance and pleasant aroma, built from 禾 (grain) over 日 (sun in modern script, originally 甘 sweet). Indexes a tight cluster of compounds about scent and incense: 馨 (lasting fragrance), 馥 (rich aroma), 馨香 (sweet smell). Modern Chinese leans on 香 itself rather than its derivatives.