xiōng
noun

Meanings

  1. 1 Sichuan lovage, a medicinal herb (used mainly in 川芎)

Examples

Chuānxiōng shì zhōngyī chángyòng de huóxuè yàocái.
Sichuan lovage is a commonly used blood-activating herb in traditional medicine.

Tips

history
is not used on its own; it occurs only in herb names — chiefly 川芎 (Sichuan lovage) and the classical 芎藭. It joins the grass radical with the phonetic .
register
Bound and technical; seen only in medicinal-herb names and pharmacology texts, not as a free word in speech.

Components

radical
cǎo
grass; plant
The grass radical on top marks this as a plant — here a medicinal herb.
phonetic
gōng
bow
Supplies the sound (reading drifted from gōng to xiōng). It is purely phonetic, carrying none of its 'bow' meaning.

Stroke Order

xiōng