苍 (cāng): dark blue, deep green, ash-gray
苍 (cāng) is a Chinese character meaning “dark blue.” Classified as HSK Level 7-9 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of 艹 (semantic) and 仓 (phonetic). It ranks #1712 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).
Etymologically derived, 苍 grass. Its radical form 艹 (grass) appears in many related characters such as 花 (huā, flower), 茶 (chá, tea), 菜 (cài, vegetable, dish).
Definitions
- dark blue
- deep green
- ash-gray
Etymology & Origin
Stroke Order
Practice writing 苍 with real-time feedback — trace each stroke in the correct order and build muscle memory in the HanziFeed app.
Words & Compounds
Common Compounds
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 苍蝇noun | cāng ying | housefly |
| 苍白adjective | cāng bái | pale |
| 上苍noun | shàng cāng | Heaven |
| 苍天noun | cāng tiān | firmament |
| 苍老adjective | cāng lǎo | old |
| 苍蝇拍noun | cāng ying pāi | flyswatter |
| 苍穹noun | cāng qióng | the blue dome of heaven |
| 白发苍苍phrase | bái fà cāng cāng | old and gray-haired |
| 苍鹰noun | cāng yīng | (bird species of China) Eurasian goshawk (Accipiter gentilis) |
| 苍茫adjective | cāng máng | boundless |
| 苍劲adjective | cāng jìng | (of a tree) old and strong |
| 苍凉adjective | cāng liáng | desolate |
| 苍苍adjective | cāng cāng | ash gray |
| 苍鹭noun | cāng lù | (bird species of China) grey heron (Ardea cinerea) |
| 苍白无力 | cāng bái wú lì | pale and feeble |
苍 appears in 50 compound words: 76 as the first character, 6 as the last, and 18 in a middle position. Compound statistics computed from SUBTLEX-CH and HSK 3.0 vocabulary data.
Strongest Collocations
Characters that most frequently co-occur with 苍 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.
Idioms & Chengyu (7)
freakishness; changeable and strange; changes in human affairs often take freakish forms
freakishness; changeable and strange; changes in human affairs often take freakish forms
freakishness; changeable and strange; changes in human affairs often take freakish forms
freakishness; changeable and strange; changes in human affairs often take freakish forms
Example Sentences
这个苍字在古汉语中有不同的含义。
zhè gě cāng zì zài gǔ hàn yǔ zhōng yǒu bù tóng de hán yì .
The character "苍" carries different meanings in Classical Chinese.
...龙》解锁【二名魔物】黑炎王火龙 (火龙&苍火龙)
. . . lóng jiě suǒ èr míng mó wù hēi yán wáng huǒ lóng ( huǒ lóng cāng huǒ lóng )
...Dragon: Unlock [Two-Name Monster] Black Flame King Fire Dragon (Fire Dragon & Azure Fire Dragon)
苍生为念 治学唯真
cāng shēng wéi niàn zhì xué wéi zhēn
Caring for the People, Pursuing Truth in Scholarship
美打击伊朗独裁者 中共说辞被指苍白无力
měi dǎ jī yī lǎng dú cái zhě zhōng gòng shuō cí bèi zhǐ cāng bái wú lì
The United States attacks Iranian dictators The CCP's rhetoric has been accused of being pale and weak
...新政 蓝委指“南韩有类似制度”:绿营批评苍白无力
. . . xīn zhèng lán wěi zhǐ nán hán yǒu lèi sì zhì dù : lǜ yíng pī píng cāng bái wú lì
... New Deal Blue Committee Says "South Korea Has a Similar System": Green Camp Criticism Pale and Weak
女生半年卖出800多只点翠大蟑螂,还推出苍蝇胸针、..
nǚ shēng bàn nián mài chū 8 0 0 duō zhī diǎn cuì dà 蟑 螂 , hái tuī chū cāng yíng xiōng zhēn , . .
Girls sold more than 800 big cockroaches in half a year, and also launched fly brooches、..
老鹰不会去抓苍蝇。
Lǎoyīng bù huì qù zhuā cāngying.
The eagle does not catch flies.
你脸色看起来好苍白。你没事吧？
Nǐ liǎnsè kànqǐlai hǎo cāngbái. nǐ méishì ba?
You look very pale. Are you OK?
那是一只鹳还是一只苍鹭？
Nàshi yī zhī guàn háishi yī zhī cānglù?
Is that a stork or a heron?
他跟我说我很苍白，并问我怎么了。
Tā gēn wǒ shuō wǒ hěn cāngbái, bìng wèn wǒ zěnmele.
He told me that I looked pale and asked me what the matter was.
Character Family
Frequently Asked Questions
What does 苍 (cāng) mean in Chinese?
What's the difference between 苍 and 灯?
How many strokes does 苍 have?
What is the radical of 苍?
What are the components of 苍?
What are common words containing 苍?
What characters sound the same as 苍 (cāng)?
Is 苍 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Practice writing 苍 with real-time feedback
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