粱 (liáng): sorghum

粱 (liáng) is a Chinese character meaning “sorghum.” Outside the HSK 3.0 syllabus (CLEC 2022), it is composed of 氵 (structural), 刅 (phonetic) and 米 (semantic). It ranks #4551 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Etymologically derived, 粱 millet. Its radical form 米 (rice) appears in many related characters such as 粗 (cū, (of sth long) wide), 粉 (fěn, powder), 精 (jīng, essence).

Spoken pronunciation

Definitions

  1. sorghum

Etymology & Origin

粱

pictophoneticmillet

Decomposition: ⿱⿰氵刅米 (layout: top-bottom)

Stroke Order

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13

Practice writing 粱 with real-time feedback — trace each stroke in the correct order and build muscle memory in the HanziFeed app.

Words & Compounds

Common Compounds

WordPinyinMeaning
高粱noungāo liángsorghum
黄粱一梦phrasehuáng liáng yī mèngsee 黃粱夢|黄粱梦
黄粱梦nounhuáng liáng mèngdream of golden millet
黄粱美梦huáng liáng měi mèngdream of golden millet
红高粱hóng gāo liángred sorghum
膏粱子弟gāo liáng zǐ dì(idiom) pampered scion of a wealthy family
糖高粱táng gāo liángsweet sorghum
甜高粱tián gāo liángsweet sorghum
膏粱gāo liángfatty meat and fine grains
9
Total compounds
0
As first character
56
As last character
44
As middle character

粱 appears in 9 compound words: 0 as the first character, 56 as the last, and 44 in a middle position. Compound statistics computed from SUBTLEX-CH and HSK 3.0 vocabulary data.

Idioms & Chengyu (2)

膏粱子弟gāo liáng zǐ dì

(idiom) pampered scion of a wealthy family

phrase
黄粱一梦huángliángyīmèng

fanciful dream of wealth and rank; pipe dream; one's hopes coming to nothing

phrase

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

学习粱字需要反复练习,才能写得工整。

xué xí liáng zì xū yāo fǎn fù liàn xí , cái néng xiě dé gōng zhěng .

Learning to write the character "liang" requires repeated practice to ensure it is written neatly.

中国新闻网·文化Sep 2026

他所有的电影,从《红高粱》一直下来,我都看过。

tā suǒ yǒu de diàn yǐng , cóng hóng gāo liáng yī zhí xià lái , wǒ dōu kàn guò .

I've seen all of his movies, starting with *Red Sorghum* and all the way through.

中国新闻网·体育Jul 2026

临别之际,夏军伟向彼尔姆奥运足球后备学校赠送了青岛特色糖果高粱饴。

lín bié zhī jì , xià jūn wěi xiàng bǐ ěr mǔ ào yùn zú qiú hòu bèi xué jiào zèng sòng le qīng dǎo tè sè táng guǒ gāo liáng 饴 .

As he was about to depart, Xia Junwei presented the Perm Olympic Football Training School with “sorghum candy,” a traditional specialty from Qingdao.

少数派May 2026

电影分 4 个章节讲述他们的故事,用复古典雅的摄影呈现普通人的黄粱一梦。

diàn yǐng fēn 4 gè zhāng jié jiǎng shù tā men de gù shì , yòng fù gǔ diǎn yǎ de shè yǐng chéng xiàn pǔ tōng rén de huáng liáng yī mèng .

The film tells their story in four chapters, using retro and elegant cinematography to depict the fleeting dreams of ordinary people.

中国新闻网·生活May 2026

《黄帝内经》曰:肥贵人是“高粱之疾”,即吃得太好导致肥胖。

huáng dì nèi jīng yuē : féi guì rén shì gāo liáng zhī jí , jí chī dé tài hǎo dǎo zhì féi pàng .

The *Huangdi Neijing* states that obesity among the wealthy is a “disease of sorghum,” meaning obesity caused by eating too well.

Character Family

Semantic Family — Characters sharing the 米 (millet) component

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 粱 (liáng) mean in Chinese?
粱 (liáng) primarily means "sorghum." It is not part of the HSK 3.0 syllabus. It ranks #4551 in character frequency.
How many strokes does 粱 have?
粱 is written with 13 strokes. The correct stroke order matters for recognition and handwriting speed — practice with the animated guide above to build proper technique.
What is the radical of 粱?
The radical associated with 粱 is 米 (rice). This radical appears in many characters related to rice.
What are the components of 粱?
粱 is composed of: 氵 (structural), 刅 (phonetic), 米 (semantic). Its IDS decomposition is ⿱⿰氵刅米 with a top-bottom layout. Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.
What are common words containing 粱?
Common words with 粱 include: 高粱 (gāo liáng, "sorghum"); 黄粱一梦 (huáng liáng yī mèng, "see 黃粱夢|黄粱梦"); 黄粱梦 (huáng liáng mèng, "dream of golden millet"); 黄粱美梦 (huáng liáng měi mèng, "dream of golden millet"); 红高粱 (hóng gāo liáng, "red sorghum"). There are over 9 compound words containing this character.
Is 粱 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Yes, 粱 is written the same way in both simplified and traditional Chinese.

Practice writing 粱 with real-time feedback

Trace stroke sequences, hear spoken pronunciation, and build lasting retention with spaced repetition in the HanziFeed app.

Character data sourced from Unihan (Unicode Consortium), SUBTLEX-CH frequency corpus (Cai & Brysbaert, 2010), and Make Me a Hanzi (stroke data). Collocation strength measured via NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information). Verified by the HanziFeed linguistics team.

HSK classification follows the HSK 3.0 Standard (Center for Language Education and Cooperation, CLEC, 2022 revision). Idiom data from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 3.0).

Data last verified: March 2026.