漢字Kanji · in Textiles, Plants & Food
常: usual, ordinary
Also: normal, common, regular, continually, always, long-lasting
- 尚esteem(sound)
- 吊(meaning)
吊 carries the meaning · 尚 gives the sound
Bronze · Western Zhou Small seal · Qin Today
Bronze and small seal: Wikimedia Commons, public domain. Today’s form: KanjiVG, CC BY-SA 3.0.
Three readings, and the words that use each
ジョウjou · on'yomi · in compounds
- 常識じょうしきcommon sense
- 常緑樹じょうりょくじゅevergreen tree
- 常用漢字じょうようかんじcommon use kanji
- 非常識ひじょうしきlack of common sense
- 非常口ひじょうぐちemergency exit
- 正常なせいじょうなnormal
- 異常ないじょうなabnormal
- 日常にちじょうdaily, everyday
つねtsune · kun'yomi · on its own
- 常につねにalways, customarily
とこ-toko- · kun'yomi
- 常夏とこなつeverlasting summer
Words: Kanji alive, CC BY 4.0.
Where it comes from
Origin · sourced
Phono-semantic compound (形聲)尚 (sound) + 巾 cloth (meaning)
Source: Wiktionary, 常 (rev. 93477210), CC BY-SA 4.0
Memory story · made up to help you remember
“Fresh from the loom! This radical represents the soft, woven materials we use every day—from a simple "towel" to a grand "banner" carried into battle.”
Connections
Also built on esteem (尚)
常 takes the 尚 family's reading, ショウ (shou).
Easy to confuse
The difference, side by sideIn ChineseSame character in simplified and traditional · cháng
Same form: 常 is written the same way in mainland China (simplified) and in Taiwan and Hong Kong (traditional).
- Simplified
- 常 mainland China, Singapore
- Traditional
- 常 Taiwan, Hong Kong
Pinyin cháng most common reading
Forms and pinyin: Unicode Unihan database (Unicode License v3). Pinyin lists the most common reading, not every reading.