漢字Kanji · in Textiles, Plants & Food
香: incense, smell
Also: perfume
禾 and 日 are drawn in
Oracle bone · Shang Bronze · Zhou Small seal · Qin Today
Oracle bone and bronze: Wikimedia Commons, public domain. Small seal: Academia Sinica 小學堂, CC0. Today’s form: KanjiVG, CC BY-SA 3.0.
Four readings, and the words that use each
コウkou · on'yomi · in compounds
- 香水こうすいperfume
- 香油こうゆbalm, perfumed oil
- 芳香ほうこうperfume, fragrance, aroma
- 香ばしいこうばしいaromatic, fragrant
キョウkyou · on'yomi
- 香車きょうしゃlance (shogi game)
かka · kun'yomi · on its own
- 香かaroma, fragrance, scent, smell
- 色香いろかcolor & scent, charm [n.]
- 移り香うつりがlingering scent
かおりkaori · kun'yomi
- 香りかおりaroma, fragrance, scent, smell
Also read かおる, with no example words in our sources. Words: Kanji alive, CC BY 4.0.
Where it comes from
Origin · sourced
Ideogrammic compound (會意)黍 glutinous millet + 口 mouth
In the oracle bone script, it was ideogrammic compound (會意): 黍 (“glutinous millet”) + 口 (“mouth”). The whole character perhaps indicate that millet was used to produce liquor from fermentation which could be drank and/or sacrificed.
Source: Wiktionary, 香 (rev. 94360990), CC BY-SA 4.0
Memory story · made up to help you remember
“The base kanji for a beautiful scent, representing the primary sensory experience of "fragrance" in perfume or cooking.”
Connections
Easy to confuse
The difference, side by sideIn ChineseSame character in simplified and traditional · xiāng
Same form: 香 is written the same way in mainland China (simplified) and in Taiwan and Hong Kong (traditional).
- Simplified
- 香 mainland China, Singapore
- Traditional
- 香 Taiwan, Hong Kong
Pinyin xiāng most common reading
Forms and pinyin: Unicode Unihan database (Unicode License v3). Pinyin lists the most common reading, not every reading.