(sāng): (bound form) mulberry tree

(sāng) is a Chinese character meaning “(bound form) mulberry tree.” Classified as HSK Level 7-9 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of (structural) and (structural). It ranks #1518 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Etymologically derived, a tree 木 bearing berries 叒. Its radical form (tree) appears in many related characters such as (běn, (bound form) root), (, machine, opportunity), (tiáo, strip).

Native pronunciation

Definitions

  1. (bound form) mulberry tree

Etymology & Origin

ideographicA tree 木 bearing berries 叒

Decomposition: ⿱叒木 (layout: top-bottom)

Stroke Order

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10

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

Words & Compounds

Common Compounds

WordPinyinMeaning
sāng dé lāSandra (name)
yà lì sāng nà zhōuArizona
yà lì sāng nàArizona
sāng ná(loanword) sauna
sāng bāsamba (dance) (loanword)
sāng dé sī(surname) Sanders
kǎ sāng dé lāCassandra (given name)
hā sāngHassan or Hasan (personal name or place name)
tǎn sāng ní yàTanzania
sāng jǐ bā ěrZanzibar
mò sāng bǐ kèMozambique
cāng sānggreat changes
fú sāngFusang, mythical island of ancient literature, often interpreted as Japan
luò sāngLausanne (city in Switzerland)
cāng hǎi sāng tiánlit. the blue sea turned into mulberry fields (idiom)
60
Total compounds
45
As first character
25
As last character
30
As middle character

appears in 60 compound words: 45 as the first character, 25 as the last, and 30 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.

cāng
0.4922,340 co-occurrences
0.4926,396 co-occurrences
tǎn
0.44912,156 co-occurrences
0.44417,736 co-occurrences
0.44343,662 co-occurrences
0.43911,106 co-occurrences
0.43314,640 co-occurrences
tuō
0.42911,742 co-occurrences
0.40842,888 co-occurrences
0.40816,824 co-occurrences

Idioms & Chengyu (10)

bǎojīngcāngsāngHSK 7+

to experience many vicissitudes; to have experienced many vicissitudes of life; to have lived through many changes

phrase
cānghǎisāngtiánHSK 7+

time brings drastic changes to the world; the vicissitudes of life

phrase
lì jìn cāng sāngHSK 7+

to have been through the hardships of life; to have been through the mill

phrase
MòsāngbǐkèHSK 7+

Mozambique (a country in East Africa and Southern Africa)

Sāngjǐbā'ěrHSK 7+

Zanzibar (an island region of Tanzania in the Indian Ocean); Zanzibar Island, Unguja (an island of Tanzania)

TǎnsāngníyàHSK 7+

Tanzania (a country in East Africa)

YàlìsāngnàHSK 7+

Arizona (a state of the United States)

zhǐsāngmàhuáiHSK 7+

to scold someone indirectly; to make oblique accusations

phrase
sāngjiānpúshàngHSK 7+

lovers' rendezvous

phrase

Showing 9 of 10 idioms containing .

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

秋风起,叶变黄,铺满了林间小路。

qiū fēng qǐ , sāng xié biàn huáng , pù mǎn le lín jiān xiǎo lù .

Autumn winds rise, mulberry leaves turn yellow, Carpeted along the forest paths.

WorldjournalApr 2026

对比粉底液将军 何润东“沧霸王”翻红 获邀亮相苏超

duì bǐ fěn de yè jiāng jūn hé rùn dōng cāng sāng bà wáng fān hóng huò yāo liàng xiāng sū chāo

UdnnewsindexApr 2026

...剑浣春秋】解密!为什么日本AV界都是欧吉男优?

. . . jiàn 浣 chūn qiū jiě mì ! wéi shén má rì běn A V jiè dōu shì ōu jí sāng nán yōu ?

SmzdmMar 2026

四月葚赛人参,6款葚水配方,养气血安睡眠养...

sì yuè sāng 葚 sài rén cān , 6 kuǎn sāng 葚 shuǐ pèi fāng , yǎng qì xiě ān shuì mián yǎng . . .

"April mulberries are as good as ginseng": 6 mulberry water recipes to nourish qi and blood, promote restful sleep, and...

UdnnewsindexFeb 2026

经典赛/秀出少棒时与“OH”的合照 江坤宇换到亲签版本

jīng diǎn sài xiù chū shǎo bàng shí yǔ O H sāng de gě zhào jiāng 坤 yǔ huàn dào qīn qiān bǎn běn

Classic/Show Little League photo with "OH Sang" Jiang Kunyu switched to the autographed version

UdnnewsindexFeb 2026

牵扯艾普斯坦引发学界风暴 哈佛切割前校长默斯

qiān chě ài pǔ sī tǎn yǐn fā xué jiè fēng bào hā fó qiē gē qián jiào cháng sāng mò sī

Involving Epstein caused a storm in the academic world Harvard cut former president Summers

Tatoeba

凤凰城是亚利那州的首府。

Fènghuángchéng shì Yàlìsāngnàzhōu de shǒufǔ.

Phoenix is the capital of Arizona.

Character Family

Homophones — Characters pronounced sāng

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 桑 (sāng) mean in Chinese?
桑 (sāng) primarily means "(bound form) mulberry tree." It is classified as HSK Level 7-9, making it an expert-level character. It ranks #1518 in character frequency.
How many strokes does 桑 have?
桑 is written with 10 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 桑?
The radical associated with 桑 is 木 (tree). This radical appears in many characters related to tree.
What are the components of 桑?
桑 is composed of: 叒 (structural), 木 (structural). Its IDS decomposition is ⿱叒木 with a top-bottom layout. Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.
What are common words containing 桑?
Common words with 桑 include: 桑德拉 (sāng dé lā, "Sandra (name)"); 亚利桑那州 (yà lì sāng nà zhōu, "Arizona"); 亚利桑那 (yà lì sāng nà, "Arizona"); 桑拿 (sāng ná, "(loanword) sauna"); 桑巴 (sāng bā, "samba (dance) (loanword)"). There are over 60 compound words containing this character.
What characters sound the same as 桑 (sāng)?
Several characters share the pronunciation sāng: 嗓 (throat), 丧 (mourning). Context and tones help distinguish between them in speech and writing.
Is 桑 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Yes, 桑 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.