荃 (quán): a fragrant herb; sweet flag (cl…

Meanings

1 a fragrant herb; sweet flag (classical)

Characters

荃

quán

a fragrant herb (classical)

Examples

荃不揆余之中情兮

Quán bù kuí yú zhī zhōngqíng xī

The Li Sao line "荃不揆余之中情兮" uses the fragrant herb 荃 as a figure for the ruler.

Tips

history

荃 is not used in modern Chinese as a common word; it appears mainly in the classics, where it names a fragrant herb (a kind of sweet flag) used by Qu Yuan as a symbol for the king. It is the grass radical 艹 over 全 for the sound, and survives mostly in personal names.

register

Classical and literary — found in old poetry and as a given-name character, not in everyday speech.