馨 (xīn): fragrant (especially a far-carr…

Meanings

1 fragrant (especially a far-carrying fragrance)
2 sweet-smelling virtue; lasting good reputation

Characters

馨

xīn

lingering fragrance

Examples

HSK 7-9

温馨的家是心灵的港湾。

Wēnxīn de jiā shì xīnlíng de gǎngwān.

A warm home is the harbour of the soul.

HSK 7-9

馨香随风飘来，满园花开。

Xīnxiāng suí fēng piāo lái, mǎn yuán huā kāi.

Sweet fragrance drifts on the breeze; the whole garden is in bloom.

HSK 7-9

斯是陋室，惟吾德馨。

Sī shì lòushì, wéi wú dé xīn.

Though my study is humble, the virtue of its master is fragrance enough.

Tips

usage

xīn has both literal and figurative reach. Concrete fragrance: 馨香 (lingering perfume - slightly more poetic than plain 香). The everyday compound everyone knows is 温馨 'warm and tender' - used of homes, atmospheres, gestures, family moments. It is one of the most common positive feeling-words in modern Chinese marketing and lifestyle writing. Older literary use: 德馨 (a fragrant virtue, i.e. a reputation that carries far), preserved in Liu Yuxi's 《陋室铭》 (Inscription on a Humble Dwelling).

culture

馨 is a very common single-character given name, especially for girls, chosen for its meaning 'fragrant, warm, sweet-natured'. You will meet it in names like 馨予，馨怡，雅馨. Two-character combinations with 馨 carry a warm, gentle, slightly literary feel.

Components

radical

香 xiāng

fragrant

Bottom 香 - the indexing radical (Kangxi #186, fragrance). Combines with the chime-top to give 'a fragrance that carries like the ring of a stone chime' - the defining nuance of 馨 is not just any scent but one that travels far and lingers. The radical is small but coherent; the most prominent member alongside 馨 is 馥 (dense fragrance).

phonetic

声 shēng

sound; voice (supplying a fused phonetic shape)

Top - a fused shape historically derived from 殸 (an old form of 磬, a stone chime), supplying the sound. The qìng → xīn shift is not transparent in modern Mandarin but was regular in Old Chinese. Visually the top resembles 声 + 殳 - the chime being struck - and the parent character borrows that 'sound carrying far' image for fragrance carrying far.