香 (xiāng): fragrant

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

这朵花很香。

Zhè duǒ huā hěn xiāng.

This flower smells wonderful.

饭好香啊！

Fàn hǎo xiāng a!

The food smells so appetizing!

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.