常 (cháng) means "always, ever" with 11 strokes, radical 巾 (turban), HSK 1 on the new exam.
Pronunciation
Meaning
Primary: always
Other meanings:
- ever
Etymology
Oracle-bone origin
常 does not appear in oracle-bone script. It is a phono-semantic compound in which 尚 (shàng) provides the sound and 巾 (jīn, cloth) provides the meaning. The original referent was a long lower garment, a kind of skirt worn by men.
Form evolution
The character is attested from bronze and seal script onward with 尚 sitting above 巾. Clerical script flattened the top element into its familiar 丷+冖+口 shape, and regular script standardised this into the modern 常. The form has been remarkably stable since the Han dynasty.
How the meaning evolved
The original meaning 'lower garment, skirt' is effectively lost in modern Chinese; for that sense the character 裳 (with 衣 as the semantic element) took over. 常 instead specialised into the sense 'constant, regular, ordinary', likely through an extended meaning of 'the usual thing one wears' becoming 'the usual'. Modern Mandarin uses it almost exclusively in this abstract sense, as in 常常 (often) and 正常 (normal).
Cultural note
The original clothing sense is preserved in the fixed expression 衣裳 (yīshang, clothing), where 裳 is the later specialised form of the same word family. Confucian and Daoist writers used 常 heavily as a philosophical term for 'the constant, the invariant', most famously in the opening of the Daodejing: 道可道,非常道.
Mnemonic
A cloth banner in the mouth — constant, often
Decomposition
Breaking a character into its components makes it far easier to recall. Each component above links to its own detail page.
Basic info
| Pinyin | cháng |
| Meanings | always, ever |
| Stroke count | 11 strokes |
| Radical | 巾 (#50: turban) |
| New HSK exam | Recognise at HSK 1 |
| Frequency | #74 most common |
Example sentences
Words containing 常
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning | HSK |
|---|---|---|---|
| 非常 | fēicháng | very | HSK 1 |
| 经常 | jīngcháng | Often | HSK 2 |
| 正常 | zhèngcháng | normal | HSK 4 |
| 常识 | chángshí | common sense | HSK 5 |
| 平常 | píngcháng | Usual | HSK 4 |
| 通常 | tōngcháng | usually | HSK 5 |
| 日常 | rìcháng | daily | HSK 4 |
| 照常 | zhàocháng | as usual | HSK 7-9 |
| 常 | cháng | always, ever | HSK 3 |
| 常常 | chángcháng | often, frequently | HSK 3 |
| 常规 | chángguī | routine, normal | HSK 6 |
| 常见 | chángjiàn | common, frequently seen | HSK 3 |
| 常年 | chángnián | all year round | HSK 6 |
| 常务 | chángwù | routine, day-to-day |
Related characters
Similar meaning (abstract)
On the new HSK 1 exam
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Frequently Asked Questions
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Reviewed by RJ Murray, Founder, HSK Lord.