馨 (xīn): fragrant (especially a far-carr…

Meanings

1 fragrant (especially a far-carrying fragrance)
2 sweet-smelling virtue; lasting good reputation

Characters

馨

xīn

lingering fragrance

Examples

温馨的家是心灵的港湾。

Wēnxīn de jiā shì xīnlíng de gǎngwān.

A warm home is the harbour of the soul.

馨香随风飘来，满园花开。

Xīnxiāng suí fēng piāo lái, mǎn yuán huā kāi.

Sweet fragrance drifts on the breeze; the whole garden is in bloom.

斯是陋室，惟吾德馨。

Sī shì lòushì, wéi wú dé xīn.

Though my study is humble, the virtue of its master is fragrance enough.

Tips

usage

xīn has both literal and figurative reach. Concrete fragrance: 馨香 (lingering perfume — slightly more poetic than plain 香). The everyday compound everyone knows is 温馨 'warm and tender' — used of homes, atmospheres, gestures, family moments. It is one of the most common positive feeling-words in modern Chinese marketing and lifestyle writing. Older literary use: 德馨 (a fragrant virtue, i.e. a reputation that carries far), preserved in Liu Yuxi's 《陋室铭》 (Inscription on a Humble Dwelling).

culture

馨 is a very common single-character given name, especially for girls — chosen for its meaning 'fragrant, warm, sweet-natured'. You will meet it in names like 馨予, 馨怡, 雅馨. Two-character combinations with 馨 carry a warm, gentle, slightly literary feel.

Components

radical

香 xiāng

fragrant

Bottom 香 — the indexing radical (Kangxi #186, fragrance). Combines with the chime-top to give 'a fragrance that carries like the ring of a stone chime' — the defining nuance of 馨 is not just any scent but one that travels far and lingers. The radical is small but coherent; the most prominent member alongside 馨 is 馥 (dense fragrance).

phonetic

声 shēng

sound; voice (supplying a fused phonetic shape)

Top — a fused shape historically derived from 殸 (an old form of 磬, a stone chime), supplying the sound. The qìng → xīn shift is not transparent in modern Mandarin but was regular in Old Chinese. Visually the top resembles 声 + 殳 — the chime being struck — and the parent character borrows that 'sound carrying far' image for fragrance carrying far.