(liáng): grain, food, provisions

(liáng) is a Chinese character meaning “grain.” Classified as HSK Level 5 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of (semantic) and (phonetic). It ranks #1295 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Etymologically derived, grain. Its radical form (rice) appears in many related characters such as (, uncooked rice), (lèi, kind), (jīng, essence).

Native pronunciation

Definitions

  1. grain
  2. food
  3. provisions

Etymology & Origin

pictophoneticgrain

Decomposition: ⿰米良 (layout: left-right)

Stroke Order

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

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

Words & Compounds

HSK Vocabulary with

WordPinyinMeaningHSK
nounliáng shifoodstuff5

Common Compounds

WordPinyinMeaning
cū liángcoarse grains (maize, sorghum etc)
liáng cānggranary
kǒu liángration
gān liángrations (to take on expedition)
shí liángfood cereals
dàn jìn liáng juéout of ammunition and no food left (idiom)
liáng cǎoarmy provisions
liáng piàocoupons for food or grain used in a PRC economic program c. 1955-1993
jūn liángarmy provisions
huáng liánglit. imperial funding for troops
zá liánggrain crops other than rice and wheat
jiù jì liángrelief grain
qián liángland tax
chǔ bèi liánggrain reserves
chī liáng bù guǎn shìto eat without working (idiom)
59
Total compounds
25
As first character
56
As last character
19
As middle character

appears in 59 compound words: 25 as the first character, 56 as the last, and 19 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 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.

shí
0.62646,168 co-occurrences
cāng
0.5765,490 co-occurrences
chǔ
0.5525,454 co-occurrences
qián
0.4743,180 co-occurrences
jǐn
0.4302,796 co-occurrences
chǎn
0.4207,324 co-occurrences
zhù
0.403186 co-occurrences
nóng
0.3972,596 co-occurrences
quē
0.3972,646 co-occurrences
yóu
0.3942,868 co-occurrences

Idioms & Chengyu (5)

bīng jīng liáng zúHSK 6+

elite soldiers, ample provisions (idiom); well-prepared forces; preparations for war are in an advanced state

phrase
dànjìnliángjuéHSK 5+

to run out of ammunition and food supply; to be in a desperate situation

phrase
jī cǎo tún liángHSK 7+

(idiom) to stockpile provisions in preparation for war

phrase
yínchīmǎoliángHSK 5+

to prematurely overconsume; unable to make both ends meet

phrase
yín zhī mǎo liángHSK 5+

see 寅吃卯糧|寅吃卯粮[yin2 chi1 mao3 liang2]

phrase

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

这个字的意思与它的部首有关。

zhè gě liáng zì de yì sī yú tā de bù shǒu yǒu guān .

The meaning of the character "粮" is related to its radical.

99 健康网Mar 2026

医生提醒:“老年人吃粗越多越好”不科学,合理搭配才是关键!

yī shēng tí xǐng : lǎo nián rén chī cū liáng yuè duō yuè hǎo bù kē xué , gě lǐ dā pèi cái shì guān jiàn !

The doctor reminds: "The more whole grains the elderly eat, the better" is unscientific, and reasonable matching is the key!

99 健康网Mar 2026

“老年人吃粗越多越好”不科学,合理摄入才是健康关键

lǎo nián rén chī cū liáng yuè duō yuè hǎo bù kē xué , gě lǐ shè rù cái shì jiàn kāng guān jiàn

"The more whole grains the elderly eat, the better" is unscientific, and reasonable intake is the key to health

中国新闻网_梳理天下新闻Mar 2026

(全国两会)从仓到市场:一位代表的“流通”之问

( quán guó liǎng huì ) cóng liáng cāng dào shì chǎng : yī wèi dài biǎo de liú tōng zhī wèn

From the granary to the market: the question of "circulation" by a representative

中国新闻网_梳理天下新闻Feb 2026

“人均”超500公斤,大国农业底气足!

rén jūn liáng chāo 5 0 0 gōng jīn , dà guó nóng yè de qì zú !

The "per capita grain" exceeds 500 kilograms, and the agriculture of a big country is full of confidence!

UdnnewsindexFeb 2026

境外茶混充率18%降至2% 农署今年纳入条形包种茶产地鉴别

jìng wài chá hùn chōng lǜ 1 8 jiàng zhì 2 nóng liáng shǔ jīn nián nà rù tiáo xíng bāo zhǒng chá chǎn dì jiàn bié

The overseas tea mixing rate dropped from 18% to 2% This year, the Agriculture and Food Department included the identification of the origin of strip tea

Tatoeba

他们想栽培新品种的米来增加食生产。

Tāmen xiǎng zāipéi xīn pǐnzhǒng de mǐ lái zēngjiā liángshi shēngchǎn.

They want to increase food production by growing new kinds of rice.

Tatoeba

食供应十分充足。

Liángshi gōngyìng shífēn chōngzú.

There is an abundant supply of foodstuffs.

Tatoeba

怎么样才能让我的狗吃狗

Zěnmeyàng cáinéng ràng wǒ de gǒu chī gǒuliáng?

How do I get my dog to eat dog food?

Character Family

Homophones — Characters pronounced liáng

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 粮 (liáng) mean in Chinese?
粮 (liáng) primarily means "grain." It is classified as HSK Level 5, making it an advanced character. It ranks #1295 in character frequency.
What's the difference between 粮 and 浪?
粮 (liáng) and 浪 (làng) are often confused. confusable. The key distinguishing feature: 米 vs 氵 (same 良 component).
How many strokes does 粮 have?
粮 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 粮?
The radical associated with 粮 is 米 (rice). This radical appears in many characters related to rice.
What are the components of 粮?
粮 is composed of: 米 (semantic), 良 (phonetic). Its IDS decomposition is ⿰米良 with a left-right layout. Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.
What are common words containing 粮?
Common words with 粮 include: 粮食 (liáng shi, "foodstuff"); 粗粮 (cū liáng, "coarse grains (maize, sorghum etc)"); 粮仓 (liáng cāng, "granary"); 口粮 (kǒu liáng, "ration"); 干粮 (gān liáng, "rations (to take on expedition)"). There are over 59 compound words containing this character.
What characters sound the same as 粮 (liáng)?
Several characters share the pronunciation liáng: 良 (good), 凉 (the five Liang of the Sixteen Kingdoms, namely: Former Liang 前涼|前凉 (314-376), Later Liang 後涼|后凉 (386-403), Northern Liang 北涼|北凉 (398-439), Southern Liang 南涼|南凉 (397-414), Western Liang 西涼|西凉 (400-421)), 梁 (Liang Dynasty (502–557)), 两 (two), and 1 more. Context and tones help distinguish between them in speech and writing.
Is 粮 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Yes, 粮 is written the same way in both simplified and traditional Chinese.

Practice writing with real-time feedback

Trace stroke sequences, hear native 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.