Where 常 comes from
cloth
- Meaning part
- 巾 (“towel”)
- Sound part
- 尚 (“still”)
How to write 常 (cháng, “common”)
常 (cháng), an HSK 1 character, means “common”, “always” and “ever”. It pairs a meaning part, 巾 (“towel”), with a sound part, 尚 (“still”). On its own it is an HSK 3 word; it also forms 非常 (“very”), 经常 (“frequently”) and 常见 (“commonly seen”). Japanese reads it jou, “usual”, as a JLPT N3 kanji.
- Pinyin
- cháng
- Strokes
- 11
- HSK
- 1
- Radical
- 巾 (“towel”)
Stroke by stroke
- 1
- 2
- 3
- 4
- 5
- 6
- 7
- 8
- 9
- 10
- 11
As a top-bottom character it splits into 尚 (“still”), strokes 1–8; 巾 (“towel”, the radical), strokes 9–11, written the top first.
- Vertical ㇑topdownwards
- Dot ㇔top leftdown and right
- Left-falling stroke ㇒top rightdown and right → down and left
- Dot ㇔top leftdownwards
- Horizontal hook ㇖top leftrightwards → down and left
- Vertical ㇑leftdownwards
- Horizontal-turn ㇕centerrightwards → down and left
- Horizontal ㇐centerrightwards
- Vertical ㇑leftdownwards
- Horizontal-turn-hook ㇆leftrightwards → downwards → leftwards
- Vertical ㇑centerdownwards
Japanese and Chinese
Japanese and Chinese draw all 11 strokes in the same order and direction, by our stroke-by-stroke comparison.
Trace it
Follow the numbers. Tracing help
Pinyin and meaning
| Pinyin | Meanings | Traditional | In words |
|---|---|---|---|
| cháng second tone | common; always; ever; often; frequently | — | 非常 经常 常见 常用 |
- HSK 2025 syllabus
- level 1
- 2021 standard
- level 1
- HSK 2.0
- in a level 2 word
- Words with it
- 134 in CC-CEDICT
Words with 常
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 常 | cháng | always; ever HSK 3 |
| 非常 | fēicháng | very; really HSK 1 |
| 经常 經常 | jīngcháng | frequently; constantly HSK 2 |
| 常见 常見 | chángjiàn | commonly seen; common HSK 3 |
| 常用 | chángyòng | in common usage HSK 3 |
| 常常 | chángcháng | frequently; often HSK 3 |
| 日常 | rìcháng | day-to-day; daily HSK 4 |
| 正常 | zhèngcháng | normal; regular HSK 4 |
| 平常 | píngcháng | ordinary; common HSK 4 |
| 常识 常識 | chángshí | common sense; general knowledge HSK 5 |
HSK words first (CC-CEDICT).
Practice sheet
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Keep going
HSK 1, in list order: