荒 (huāng): desolate, shortage, scarce
荒 (huāng) is a Chinese character meaning “desolate.” Classified as HSK Level 7-9 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of 芒 (semantic) and 川 (phonetic). It ranks #1320 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).
Etymologically derived, 荒 grass. Its radical form 艹 (grass) appears in many related characters such as 花 (huā, flower), 茶 (chá, tea), 菜 (cài, vegetable, dish).
Definitions
- desolate
- shortage
- scarce
Etymology & Origin
Stroke Order
Practice writing 荒 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 |
|---|---|---|
| 荒谬 | huāng miù | absurd |
| 荒唐 | huāng táng | beyond belief |
| 荒野 | huāng yě | wilderness |
| 饥荒 | jī huāng | crop failure |
| 荒诞 | huāng dàn | beyond belief |
| 荒废 | huāng fèi | to abandon (cultivated fields) |
| 荒地 | huāng dì | wasteland |
| 荒凉 | huāng liáng | desolate |
| 荒岛 | huāng dǎo | barren or uninhabited island |
| 荒芜 | huāng wú | left to return to unchecked growth |
| 荒漠 | huāng mò | desert |
| 荒郊 | huāng jiāo | desolate area outside a town |
| 荒原 | huāng yuán | wasteland |
| 蛮荒 | mán huāng | savage |
| 拓荒者 | tuò huāng zhě | pioneer |
荒 appears in 69 compound words: 54 as the first character, 35 as the last, and 12 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 荒 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.
Idioms & Chengyu (13)
Showing 12 of 13 idioms containing 荒.
Example Sentences
荒字由9笔画组成，结构很巧妙。
huāng zì yóu bǐ huà zǔ chéng , jié gòu hěn qiǎo miào .
The character "荒" consists of nine strokes and has a very ingenious structure.
特朗普:任何国家如藉最高法院荒谬裁决耍花招 将面临更重关税
tè lǎng pǔ : rèn hé guó jiā rú 藉 zuì gāo fǎ yuàn huāng miù cái jué shuǎ huā zhāo jiāng miàn lín gēng chóng guān shuì
Trump: Any country that plays tricks with the absurd Supreme Court ruling will face heavier tariffs
扩产也来不及!全球记忆体荒将成AI竞争关键瓶颈 又一矽谷大老发声示...
kuò chǎn yě lái bù jí ! quán qiú jì yì tǐ huāng jiāng chéng A I jìng zhēng guān jiàn píng jǐng yòu yī 矽 gǔ dà lǎo fā shēng shì . . .
It's too late to expand production! The global memory shortage will become a key bottleneck in AI competition, and another Silicon Valley boss has spoken out...
...马斯克提太空兴建资料中心 奥特曼再呛“很荒谬”
. . . mǎ sī kè tí tài kōng xīng jiàn zī liào zhōng xīn ào tè 曼 zài qiàng hěn huāng miù
... Musk mentioned the construction of a data center in space, and Ultraman choked again "It's ridiculous"
荒地变身水耕农场 吉新文英成功种出日本网纹...
huāng dì biàn shēn shuǐ gēng nóng chǎng jí xīn wén yīng chéng gōng zhǒng chū rì běn wǎng wén . . .
The wasteland has been transformed into a hydroponic farm, and Ji Xin Wenying has successfully planted Japanese reticulation...
...集团李亮:炒作“字节是恒科的最大空头”很荒唐也..
. . . jí tuán lǐ liàng : chǎo zuò zì jié shì héng kē de zuì dà kōng tóu hěn huāng táng yě . .
... Group Li Liang: The hype that "Byte is Hengke's biggest bear" is ridiculous.
她们被抛弃在一座荒岛上。
Tāmen bèi pāoqì zài yī zuò huāngdǎo shàng.
They were marooned on a desert isle.
这种荒谬的迷信已不复存在了。
Zhèzhǒng huāngmiù de míxìn yǐ bù fù cúnzài le.
Such a ridiculous superstition no longer exists.
花光他们所有的钱会很荒谬。
Huāguāng tāmen suǒyǒu de qián huì hěn huāngmiù.
It would be ridiculous to spend all their money.
这一切在我看来都颇为荒唐。
Zhè yīqiè zàiwǒkànlái dōu pōwéi huāngtáng.
I think that this is all quite absurd.
Character Family
Frequently Asked Questions
What does 荒 (huāng) mean in Chinese?
What's the difference between 荒 and 顺?
How many strokes does 荒 have?
What is the radical of 荒?
What are the components of 荒?
What are common words containing 荒?
What characters sound the same as 荒 (huāng)?
Is 荒 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
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