苷

gān
noun

Meanings

  1. 1 licorice plant (classical)
  2. 2 glycoside (chemistry term)

Examples

HSK 5
Hěn duō zhíwù hányǒu gān lèi wùzhì.
Many plants contain glycosides such as the toxic amygdalin.

Tips

history
苷 has no everyday standalone use. Classically it named the licorice plant - a grass radical 艹 over 甘 sweet, both sound and sense. Modern Chinese keeps it alive only as the chemistry term for a glycoside, as in 糖苷.
register
Classical plant name; modern use restricted to chemistry vocabulary, not general speech.

Components

radical
艹 cǎo
grass; plant
Grass radical 艹 on top, the plant-category marker. It places 苷 among botanical names - here the licorice plant.
phonetic
甘 gān
sweet
甘 sweet sits below and does double duty: it gives the gān reading and hints at the meaning, since licorice is a sweet root. The same 甘 phonetic appears in 钳 and 柑.

Stroke Order

苷 gān