仙 (xiān): immortal, variant of 仙

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

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

Spoken pronunciation

Definitions

  1. immortal
  2. variant of 仙

Etymology & Origin

仙

pictophoneticperson

Decomposition: ⿰亻山 (layout: left-right)

Stroke Order

1
2
3
4
5

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

Words & Compounds

Common Compounds

WordPinyinMeaning
仙女nounxiān nǚfairy
仙人掌nounxiān rén zhǎngcactus
神仙nounshén xiānDaoist immortal
仙境nounxiān jìngfairyland
仙子nounxiān zǐfairy
仙人nounxiān rénDaoist immortal
水仙花shuǐ xiān huādaffodil
天仙nountiān xiānimmortal (esp. female)
水仙nounshuǐ xiāndaffodil
仙鹤nounxiān hèred-crowned crane (Grus japonensis)
仙后座proper-nounxiān hòu zuòCassiopeia (constellation)
仙乐nounxiān yuèheavenly music
仙人球nounxiān rén qiúball cactus
八仙nounbā xiānthe Eight Immortals (Daoist mythology)
凤仙花nounfèng xiān huābalsam
100
Total compounds
45
As first character
25
As last character
30
As middle character

仙 appears in 100 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 仙 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.

奴nú
0.6095,622 co-occurrences
刺cì
0.55227 co-occurrences
逸yì
0.4631,788 co-occurrences
侠xiá
0.460928 co-occurrences
沼zhǎo
0.4411,164 co-occurrences
狐hú
0.425866 co-occurrences
掌zhǎng
0.4222,268 co-occurrences
姑gū
0.4211,198 co-occurrences
剑jiàn
0.4191,166 co-occurrences
霞xiá
0.419940 co-occurrences

Idioms & Chengyu (6)

九天仙女jiǔ tiān xiān nǚHSK 7+

(idiom) celestial maiden of the highest heavens; (fig.) woman of extraordinary beauty

phrase
蓬莱仙境péng lái xiān jìng

Penglai, island of immortals; fairyland

phrase
秋水仙素qiūshuǐxiānsùHSK 7+

colchicine

noun
仙山琼阁xiānshānqiónggé

jewelled palace in elfland's hills

phrase
仙姿玉色xiān zī yù sèHSK 7+

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

phrase
欲仙欲死yùxiānyùsǐHSK 7+

to be in utter ecstasy

phrase

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

这座山风景如画,被称为人间仙境。

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

不羨鴛鴦只羨仙——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|北倫敦打吡阿仙奴作客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|阿仙奴作客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

仙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,就像仙人掌的表皮一样。

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

Your lips are soft like the surface of a cactus.

Tatoeba

仙台地震的结果很恐怖。

Xiāntái dìzhèn de jiéguǒ hěn kǒngbù.

The consequences of Sendai's earthquake were dreadful!

Tatoeba

生活就像是舔仙人掌上的蜂蜜。

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, 也不靠神仙皇帝!

Cónglái jiù méiyǒushénme Jiùshìzhǔ, yě bù kào shénxiān huángdì!

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

Tatoeba

北海道在仙台的北方。

Běihǎidào zài Xiāntái de běifāng.

Hokkaido is to the north of Sendai.

Character Family

Semantic Family — Characters sharing the 亻 (person) component

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 炭?
仙 (xiān) and 炭 (tàn) 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: 现 (to appear), 先 (beforehand), 线 (line, thread), 显 (to make visible), and 3 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 仙 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.