苋

莧
xiàn
noun #72,111

Meanings

  1. 1 amaranth
  2. 2 Chinese spinach

Examples

HSK 5
Xiàtiān wǒmen cháng chī hóng xiàn.
In summer we often eat red amaranth.
HSK 6
Zhè pán chǎo xiàncài hěn hǎochī.
This stir-fried amaranth is delicious.

Tips

culture
苋 is most often seen as 苋菜, a leafy green eaten across southern China and Southeast Asia. The red variety bleeds purple-pink dye into rice and oil, a signature look in Cantonese and Taiwanese home cooking.

Components

radical
艹 cǎo
grass; plant (top radical)
Top grass radical, three-stroke compressed form. Indexes 苋 as a leafy plant. 苋菜 is amaranth, a soft red-veined green eaten across south China. Same family of edibles: 菠 (spinach), 葱 (scallion), 蒜 (garlic).
phonetic
见 jiàn
to see (phonetic)
Bottom 见 supplies the sound, jiàn drifting to xiàn through the regular j/x palatalisation in old Chinese readings. Pure phonetic role; the eye-on-legs picture of 见 contributes no meaning to this plant character. Same shift appears in 现 (to appear).

Stroke Order

苋 xiàn