香

香 U+9999, 香 CJK UNIFIED IDEOGRAPH-9999 ← 馘 CJK Unified Ideographs 馚 →

Translingual

Stroke order

Han character

See images of
Radical 186 香

香 (Kangxi radical 186, 香+0, 9 strokes, cangjie input 竹木日 (HDA), four-corner 2060₉, composition ⿱禾日)

1. Kangxi radical #186, ⾹.

Derived characters

• Appendix:Chinese radical/香
• 㗍, 𡎟, 𪬏, 㴡, 楿, 𤋭, 𤧘, 𥔜, 䅨, 𧪑, 𧯅, 𧹰, 𧽂, 𮠷, 𪨝, 𮬀, 𪋒
• 𠝲, 𧯄, 䫝, 萫, 𥔡, 𥧎, 𩤹, 㐯, 黁, 𤼍, 麘, 䦭

Descendants

• Japanese: 𛀠 (hentaigana)

References

• Kangxi Dictionary: page 1428, character 21
• Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 44518
• Dae Jaweon: page 1955, character 2
• Hanyu Da Zidian (first edition): volume 7, page 4423, character 1
• Unihan data for U+9999

Chinese

Glyph origin

Historical forms of the character 香
Shang	Western Zhou	Shuowen Jiezi (compiled in Han)	Liushutong (compiled in Ming)
Oracle bone script	Bronze inscriptions	Small seal script	Transcribed ancient scripts

In the oracle bone script, it was ideogrammic compound (會意／会意) : 黍 (“glutinous millet”) + 口 (“mouth”).

In the seal script, the 口 was replaced with the related 甘 (“sweet”).

Currently, the 黍 has simplified into 禾, and the form of the bottom component 甘 has become akin to the unrelated 曰 or 日.

Etymology 1

Pronunciation

Definitions

香

1. fragrant; fragrance

   Antonym: 臭

2. (of food) aromatic; delicious-smelling
3. (of eating) having the appearance that one really enjoys the food; (of sleep) sound
4. (Internet slang) wonderful; enjoyable (in general)
5. popular
6. perfume
7. (religion) joss stick; incense (Classifier: 束 m; 支)
8. (figurative) woman
9. (chiefly Wu) to kiss
10. (Cantonese, euphemistic) to die

    • 弊啦！監視器香咗，點會噉㗎？ [Cantonese, trad.]
      弊啦！监视器香咗，点会噉㗎？ [Cantonese, simp.]

      From: 1988, Mobile Suit Gundam: Char's Counterattack (TVB's Cantonese dubbed version)

      bai⁶ laa³! gaam¹ si⁶ hei³ hoeng¹ zo², dim² wui⁵ gam² gaa³?

      Damn! The monitor is dead! How come?

Synonyms

Compounds

Descendants

Others:

• → Indonesian: hio (“joss stick, incense”)

Etymology 2

Pronunciation

Definitions

香

1. (Southern Min) Alternative form of 芳 (“fragrant”)

References

• “香”, in 漢語多功能字庫 (Multi-function Chinese Character Database)‎, 香港中文大學 (the Chinese University of Hong Kong), 2014–

Japanese

Kanji

(grade 4 “Kyōiku” kanji)

Readings

• Go-on: こう (kō, Jōyō)^{←かう (kau, historical)}
• Kan-on: きょう (kyō, Jōyō ^†)^{←きやう (kyau, historical)}
• Kun: か (ka, 香, Jōyō); かおり (kaori, 香り, Jōyō)^{←かをり (kawori, 香り, historical)}; かおる (kaoru, 香る, Jōyō)^{←かをる (kaworu, 香る, historical)}

Compounds

Etymology 1

From Old Japanese. First attested in the Nihon Shoki of 720 CE.

Pronunciation

• (Tokyo) か (Heiban – )
• (Tokyo) か​ (Atamadaka – )
• IPA^(key):

Noun

香(か) • (ka) 

1. a pleasant smell; a scent, a fragrance, an aroma

Derived terms

• 香(かお)る (kaoru)
• 香(かお)り (kaori)

Etymology 2

From Middle Chinese 香 (MC xjang).

Pronunciation

• (Tokyo) きょー (Heiban – )
• (Tokyo) きょ​ー (Atamadaka – )
• IPA^(key):

Noun

香(きょう) • (kyō) ^{←きやう (kyau)?}

1. Clipping of 香車 (kyōsha, “incense chariot”).

Etymology 3

From Middle Chinese 香 (MC xjang). The goon reading, so likely an earlier borrowing. Compare Vietnamese hương (“fragrance; incense”).

 香 on Japanese Wikipedia

Pronunciation

• (Tokyo) こ​ー (Atamadaka – )
• IPA^(key):

Noun

香(こう) • (kō) ^{←かう (kau)?}

1. incense

   Synonym: 御香 (okō)

References

Korean

Etymology

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium. Particularly: “Middle Korean readings, if any”)

Pronunciation

• (SK Standard/Seoul) IPA^(key):
• Phonetic hangul:

Hanja

Korean Wikisource has texts containing the hanja:

香

Wikisource

香 (eum 향 (hyang))

1. Hanja form^? of 향 (“fragrance; perfume; incense”).

Compounds

Vietnamese

Han character

香: Hán Việt readings: hương (虛(hư)良(lương)切(thiết))
香: Nôm readings: nhang, hương, hang, nhàng

1. chữ Hán form of hương (“fragrance; incense”).
2. Nôm form of nhang (“incense”).
3. chữ Hán form of Hương (“a female given name”).

   胡春香 ― Hồ Xuân Hương