香

Stroke order

 

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.

• 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

• Japanese: 𛀠 (hentaigana)

• 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

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”). The whole character perhaps indicate that millet was used to produce liquor from fermentation which could be drank and/or sacrificed.

In the seal script, the 口 was replaced with the related 甘 (“sweet”). Hence, the most conservative variant is 𪏽.

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

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? [Jyutping]

      Damn! The monitor is dead! How come?

11. (historical) shorthand for Hong Kong during Japanese Occupation between 1941 and 1945
    • 香督 [Cantonese]  ―  hoeng¹ duk¹ [Jyutping]  ―  Governor of Hong Kong

Others:

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

香

1. (Hokkien, Teochew, Puxian Min) Alternative form of 芳 (“fragrant”)

• “香”, in 漢語多功能字庫 (Multi-function Chinese Character Database)‎^[2], 香港中文大學 (the Chinese University of Hong Kong), 2014–

(Fourth grade kyōiku kanji)

• 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)}、かざ (kaza, 香)

From Old Japanese. First attested in the Nihon Shoki of 720 CE.^[1]

• (Tokyo) か [kà] (Heiban – [0])^[2][3]
• (Tokyo) か [káꜜ] (Atamadaka – [1])^[2][3]
• IPA^(key): [ka̠]

香(か) • (ka) 

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

• 香(かお)る (kaoru)
• 香(かお)り (kaori)

From Middle Chinese 香 (MC xjang).

• (Tokyo) きょー [kyòó] (Heiban – [0])^[4]
• (Tokyo) きょー [kyóꜜò] (Atamadaka – [1])^[4][3]
• IPA^(key): [kʲo̞ː]

香(きょう) • (kyō) ^{←きやう (kyau)?}

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

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

 

 香 on Japanese Wikipedia

• (Tokyo) こー [kóꜜò] (Atamadaka – [1])^[3]
• IPA^(key): [ko̞ː]

香(こう) • (kō) ^{←かう (kau)?}

1. incense

   Synonym: 御香 (okō)

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

• (SK Standard/Seoul) IPA^(key): [ça̠ŋ]
• Phonetic hangul: [향]