鲜 (xiān): fresh
鲜 (xiān) is a Chinese character meaning “fresh.” Classified as HSK Level 3 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of 鱼 (semantic) and 羊 (phonetic). It ranks #958 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).
Etymologically derived, 鲜 fish. Its radical form 鱼 (fish) appears in many related characters such as 鱼 (yú, fish), 鲁 (lǔ, Shandong, foolish), 鲨 (shā, shark).
Definitions
- fresh
Etymology & Origin
Stroke Order
Practice writing 鲜 with real-time feedback — trace each stroke in the correct order and build muscle memory in the HanziFeed app.
Words & Compounds
HSK Vocabulary with 鲜
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning | HSK |
|---|---|---|---|
| 新鲜adjective | xīn xiān | fresh (experience, food etc) | 3 |
| 鲜花noun | xiān huā | flower | 4 |
| 海鲜noun | hǎi xiān | seafood | 5 |
| 鲜明adjective | xiān míng | (of colors) bright | 6 |
| 鲜艳adjective | xiān yàn | variant of 鮮豔|鲜艳 | 6 |
Common Compounds
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 朝鲜proper-noun | cháo xiǎn | North Korea |
| 鲜血noun | xiān xuè | blood |
| 鲜活adjective | xiān huó | vivid |
| 保鲜verb | bǎo xiān | to keep fresh |
| 鲜奶noun | xiān nǎi | fresh milk |
| 鲜美adjective | xiān měi | fresh and delicious |
| 朝鲜人noun | cháo xiǎn rén | a North Korean |
| 鲜为人知phrase | xiǎn wéi rén zhī | rarely known to anyone (idiom) |
| 鲜红adjective | xiān hóng | scarlet |
| 光鲜adjective | guāng xiān | bright and neat |
| 鲜亮adjective | xiān liang | bright (color) |
| 屡见不鲜phrase | lǚ jiàn bù xiān | a common occurrence (idiom) |
| 旗帜鲜明phrase | qí zhì xiān míng | to show one's colors |
| 生鲜noun | shēng xiān | fresh produce and freshly prepared foods |
| 朝鲜战争proper-noun | cháo xiǎn zhàn zhēng | Korean War (1950-1953) |
鲜 appears in 74 compound words: 35 as the first character, 27 as the last, and 38 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 鲜 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.
Idioms & Chengyu (11)
Korean Peninsula (a peninsula in East Asia, containing the countries of North Korea and South Korea)
to have a clear-cut stand; one's attitude or position is clearly defined
Showing 9 of 11 idioms containing 鲜.
Example Sentences
这家超市的海鲜很新鲜，每天都有新货。
Zhè jiā chāoshì de hǎixiān hěn xīnxiān, měitiān dōu yǒu xīn huò.
The seafood at this supermarket is very fresh; there are new arrivals every day.
“台中有钙赞”首日上路 学童领鲜奶容量不一
tái zhōng yǒu gài zàn shǒu rì shàng lù xué tóng lǐng xiān nǎi róng liàng bù yī
"Taichung Calcium Praise" was on the road on the first day, and the school children received different capacities of fresh milk
没有你想的那么光鲜 有些冬奥选手已私下在做一事
méi yǒu nǐ xiǎng de nà má guāng xiān yǒu xiē dōng ào xuǎn shǒu yǐ sī xià zài zuò yī shì
Not as glamorous as you think Some Winter Olympians are already doing something in private
新春走基层·新华鲜报|“Becoming Chin..
xīn chūn zǒu jī céng xīn huá xiān bào B e c o m i n g C h i n . .
New Year to the grassroots Xinhua Fresh News|" Becoming Chin..
线下门店排长队 线上订单早高峰 京东七鲜春节双线共..
xiàn xià mén diàn pái cháng duì xiàn shàng dìng dān zǎo gāo fēng jīng dōng qī xiān chūn jié shuāng xiàn gòng . .
Long queues in offline stores, early peak of online orders, JD Qixian Spring Festival double line total:
中俄互免签证下的“新鲜事”
zhōng é hù miǎn qiān zhèng xià de xīn xiān shì
What's New in Russia and China's Visa Exemptions
素食汉堡味道鲜美。
Sùshí hànbǎo wèidao xiānměi.
The veggie burger was flavorful.
你去过朝鲜半岛吗？
Nǐ qù guo Cháoxiǎn Bàndǎo ma?
Have you ever been to the Korean Peninsula?
你仔细看看，太新鲜啦！
Nǐ zǐxì kànkan, tài xīnxiān lā!
Take a good look, it's really fresh!
鲜花因缺水而枯萎
Xiānhuā yīn quēshuǐ ér kūwěi
The flowers withered for want of water.
Character Family
鱼 Radical Family — Characters sharing the fish radical
Frequently Asked Questions
What does 鲜 (xiān) mean in Chinese?
What's the difference between 鲜 and 样?
How many strokes does 鲜 have?
What is the radical of 鲜?
What are the components of 鲜?
What are common words containing 鲜?
What characters sound the same as 鲜 (xiān)?
Is 鲜 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
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