(xiān): immortal, variant of 仙[xian1]

(xiān) is a Chinese character meaning “immortal.” Classified as HSK Level 7-9 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of (semantic) and (phonetic). It ranks #1248 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Etymologically derived, person. Its radical form (person) appears in many related characters such as (rén, person), (shén, what), (jīn, now).

Native pronunciation

Definitions

  1. immortal
  2. variant of 仙[xian1]

Etymology & Origin

pictophoneticperson

Decomposition: ⿰亻山 (layout: left-right)

Stroke Order

1
2
3
4
5

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
xiān nǚfairy
xiān rén zhǎngcactus
shén xiānDaoist immortal
xiān jìngfairyland
xiān zǐfairy
xiān rénDaoist immortal
shuǐ xiān huādaffodil
tiān xiānimmortal (esp. female)
shuǐ xiānnarcissus
xiān hèred-crowned crane (Grus japonensis)
xiān hòu zuòCassiopeia (constellation)
xiān yuèheavenly music
xiān rén qiúball cactus
bā xiānthe Eight Immortals (Daoist mythology)
fèng xiān huābalsam
100
Total compounds
46
As first character
24
As last character
30
As middle character

appears in 100 compound words: 46 as the first character, 24 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.

0.65713 co-occurrences
0.55516,759 co-occurrences
0.53612 co-occurrences
0.52513 co-occurrences
0.4705,364 co-occurrences
xiá
0.4672,784 co-occurrences
zhǎo
0.4473,492 co-occurrences
0.44612 co-occurrences
0.4312,598 co-occurrences
zhǎng
0.4286,804 co-occurrences

Idioms & Chengyu (5)

qiūshuǐxiānsùHSK 7+

colchicine

noun
姿xiān zī yù sèHSK 7+

heavenly beauty, jewel colors (idiom); unusually beautiful lady

phrase
yùxiānyùsǐHSK 7+

to be in utter ecstasy

phrase
péng lái xiān jìngHSK 7+

Penglai, island of immortals; fairyland

phrase
xiānshānqiónggéHSK 7+

jewelled palace in elfland's hills

phrase

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

这座山风景如画,被称为人间境。

Zhè zuò shān fēngjǐng rú huà, bèi chēng wéi rénjiān xiānjìng.

This mountain has picturesque scenery and is called a fairyland on earth.

大紀元 | 大紀元新聞網Feb 2026

不羨鴛鴦只羨——讀《柳毅傳》

bù 羨 鴛 鴦 zhī 羨 xiān 讀 liǔ yì 傳

I don't envy the mandarin ducks, only the immortals - read "The Biography of Liu Yi"

Hk01.comFeb 2026

英超|北倫敦打吡阿奴作客4:1勝熱刺 伊斯、約基尼斯梅開二...

yīng chāo běi 倫 dūn dǎ 吡 ā xiān nú zuò kè 勝 熱 cì yī sī 約 jī ní sī méi 開 èr . . .

Premier League | Arsenal beat Tottenham Hotspur 4-1 in North London...

Hk01.comFeb 2026

英超|阿奴作客4:1勝熱刺 伊斯及基奧基尼斯各入...

yīng chāo ā xiān nú zuò kè 勝 熱 cì yī sī jí jī 奧 jī ní sī gè rù . . .

Premier League | Arsenal beat Tottenham 4-1 with goals from Isles and Keokinis...

三立新聞網Feb 2026

氣調酒喝下肚小心胃穿孔 警:最慘喪命

xiān 氣 調 jiǔ hē xià dù xiǎo xīn wèi chuān kǒng jǐng zuì 慘 喪 mìng

Drinking of the spirit of the drink to be careful of perforation of the stomach, police: the most tragic loss of life

Tatoeba

你的嘴唇软绵绵的,就像人掌的表皮一样。

Nǐ de zuǐchún ruǎnmiánmián de, jiù xiàng xiānrénzhǎng de biǎopí yīyàng.

Your lips are soft like the surface of a cactus.

Tatoeba

台地震的结果很恐怖。

Xiāntái dìzhèn de jiéguǒ hěn kǒngbù.

The consequences of Sendai's earthquake were dreadful!

Tatoeba

生活就像是舔人掌上的蜂蜜。

Shēnghuó jiù xiàng shì tiǎn xiānrénzhǎng shàng de fēngmì.

Life is like licking honey off a cactus.

Tatoeba

从来就没有什么救世主, 也不靠神皇帝!

Cónglái jiù méiyǒushénme Jiùshìzhǔ, yě bù kào shénxiān huángdì!

There has never been a savior nor an immortal emperor to rely on.

Tatoeba

北海道在台的北方。

Běihǎidào zài Xiāntái de běifāng.

Hokkaido is to the north of Sendai.

Character Family

Homophones — Characters pronounced xiān

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 仙 (xiān) mean in Chinese?
仙 (xiān) primarily means "immortal." It is classified as HSK Level 7-9, making it an expert-level character. It ranks #1248 in character frequency.
What's the difference between 仙 and 灿?
仙 (xiān) and 灿 (càn) are often confused. confusable. The key distinguishing feature: 亻 vs 火 (same 山 component).
How many strokes does 仙 have?
仙 is written with 5 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 仙?
The radical associated with 仙 is 亻 (person). This radical appears in many characters related to person.
What are the components of 仙?
仙 is composed of: 亻 (semantic), 山 (phonetic). Its IDS decomposition is ⿰亻山 with a left-right layout. Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.
What are common words containing 仙?
Common words with 仙 include: 仙女 (xiān nǚ, "fairy"); 仙人掌 (xiān rén zhǎng, "cactus"); 神仙 (shén xiān, "Daoist immortal"); 仙境 (xiān jìng, "fairyland"); 仙子 (xiān zǐ, "fairy"). There are over 100 compound words containing this character.
What characters sound the same as 仙 (xiān)?
Several characters share the pronunciation xiān: 先 (beforehand), 鲜 (fresh), 闲 (idle, free), 咸 (all), and 4 more. Context and tones help distinguish between them in speech and writing.
Is 仙 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Yes, 仙 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.