xiāng
verb #43,057

Meanings

  1. 1 to assist; to help accomplish
  2. 2 surname Xiang

Examples

HSK 6
Xiāngyáng shì Húběi zhòngyào de lìshǐ míngchéng.
Xiangyang is an important historical city in Hubei.
HSK 7-9
Dàjiā qíxīn xiélì, gòng xiāng shèngjǔ.
Everyone worked together to help bring this great undertaking to success.

Tips

usage
As a verb ('to assist') is literary, surviving in set phrases like 共襄盛举 ('to jointly support a grand undertaking'). It is also a common place-name element, as in 襄阳 (Xiangyang).

Components

radical
clothing
(clothing) is the indexing radical, split around the rest of the character: its top stroke sits at the very top and the rest closes at the bottom. The original picture is of helping someone with their clothes - hence 'to assist'.
semantic
jǐng
fused inner element
The middle is a fused cluster (two mouth/hand shapes over a element) packed inside the clothing. It represents the busy hands doing the helping; the pieces no longer stand alone as independent components.

Stroke Order

xiāng