壤 (rǎng): (bound form) soil, earth, (literary) the earth (contrasted with heaven 天)
壤 (rǎng) is a Chinese character meaning “(bound form) soil.” Classified as HSK Level 6 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of 土 (semantic) and 襄 (phonetic). It ranks #2335 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).
Etymologically derived, 壤 earth. Its radical form 土 (earth) appears in many related characters such as 在 (zài, to exist), 地 (dì, earth, ground), 场 (chǎng, field, place).
Definitions
- (bound form) soil
- earth
- (literary) the earth (contrasted with heaven 天)
Etymology & Origin
Stroke Order
Practice writing 壤 with real-time feedback — trace each stroke in the correct order and build muscle memory in the HanziFeed app.
Words & Compounds
HSK Vocabulary with 壤
Common Compounds
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 平壤proper-noun | píng rǎng | Pyongyang, capital of North Korea |
| 天壤之别phrase | tiān rǎng zhī bié | (lit.) the difference between heaven and earth (idiom) |
| 穷乡僻壤phrase | qióng xiāng pì rǎng | a remote and desolate place |
| 接壤verb | jiē rǎng | to border on |
| 平壤市 | píng rǎng shì | Pyongyang, capital of North Korea |
| 土壤学noun | tǔ rǎng xué | pedology (soil study) |
| 霄壤之别 | xiāo rǎng zhī bié | see 天壤之別|天壤之别 |
| 月壤noun | yuè rǎng | lunar soil |
| 壤土noun | rǎng tǔ | (agriculture) loam |
| 黄壤 | huáng rǎng | yellow soil (acidic, iron-rich soil of tropical and subtropical regions) |
| 壤塘县 | rǎng táng xiàn | Zamthang, a county in Ngawa Tibetan and Qiang Autonomous Prefecture 阿壩藏族羌族自治州|阿坝藏族羌族自治州[A1 ba4 Zang4 zu2 Qiang1 zu2 Z... |
| 沃壤noun | wò rǎng | fertile soil |
| 壤塘proper-noun | rǎng táng | see 壤塘縣|壤塘县 |
| 熙壤 | xī rǎng | variant of 熙攘 |
| 熙熙壤壤 | xī xī rǎng rǎng | variant of 熙熙攘攘 |
壤 appears in 16 compound words: 19 as the first character, 50 as the last, and 31 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 壤 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.
Idioms & Chengyu (4)
Example Sentences
壤豆是东北地区的主要农作物之一。
rǎng dòu shì dōng běi dì ōu de zhǔ yāo nóng zuò wù zhī yī .
Soybeans are one of the primary crops in Northeast China.
北京|商业效益低 北京直飞平壤航班再停航
běi jīng shāng yè xiào yì dī běi jīng zhí fēi píng rǎng háng bān zài tíng háng
Beijing | Due to Low Commercial Viability, Direct Flights from Beijing to Pyongyang Suspended Again
罗淑佩:香港创作土壤肥沃 深入了解国安法毋须忧虑“踩地雷”
luó 淑 pèi : xiāng gǎng chuàng zuò tǔ rǎng féi wò shēn rù le jiě guó ān fǎ 毋 xū yōu lǜ cǎi dì léi
Luo Shupei: Hong Kong Offers a Fertile Creative Environment; There Is No Need to Worry About "Stepping on Landmines" When Gaining a Deeper Understanding of the National Security Law
复飞一次后 国航北京至平壤航线再度停运
fù fēi yī cì hòu guó háng běi jīng zhì píng rǎng háng xiàn zài dù tíng yùn
After resuming service once, Air China’s Beijing-Pyongyang route has been suspended again
“我不想看到日本首相来平壤” 金与正拒绝高市早苗与金正恩会晤意向
wǒ bù xiǎng kàn dào rì běn shǒu xiāng lái píng rǎng jīn yǔ zhèng jù jué gāo shì zǎo miáo yǔ jīn zhèng ēn huì wù yì xiàng
“I don’t want to see the Japanese prime minister come to Pyongyang.” Kim Yo-jong rejects Sanae Takaichi’s proposal to meet with Kim Jong-un
“尹锡悦政府时期11次向平壤放飞无人机”
尹 xī yuè zhèng fǔ shí qī 1 1 cì xiàng píng rǎng fàng fēi wú rén jī
"11 drones were flown to Pyongyang during the Yoon Suk-yeol administration"
泰国在北边接壤缅甸和老挝。
Tàiguó zài běibiān jiērǎng Miǎndiàn hé Lǎowō.
Thailand is bordered to the north by Myanmar and Laos.
这个土壤似乎长不出任何东西来。
Zhège tǔrǎng sìhū zhǎngbuchū rènhé dōngxi lái.
Nothing seems to grow in this soil.
土壤被雨水冲走了。
Tǔrǎng bèi Yǔshuǐ chōngzǒu le.
The rain washed away the soil.
这是非常好的土壤。
Zhè shì fēicháng hǎo de tǔrǎng.
This is very good soil.
Character Family
Semantic Family — Characters sharing the 土 (earth) component
Frequently Asked Questions
What does 壤 (rǎng) mean in Chinese?
What's the difference between 壤 and 囊?
How many strokes does 壤 have?
What is the radical of 壤?
What are the components of 壤?
What are common words containing 壤?
What characters sound the same as 壤 (rǎng)?
Is 壤 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Practice writing 壤 with real-time feedback
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