(xián): worthy or virtuous person, honorific used for a person of the same or a younger generation

(xián) is a Chinese character meaning “worthy or virtuous person.” Classified as HSK Level 7-9 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), with radical (shell). It ranks #1918 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Etymologically derived, money. Its radical form (shell) appears in many related characters such as (guì, abbr. for Guizhou Province 貴州|贵州[Gui4 zhou1]), (, to bear), (, responsibility).

Native pronunciation
HSK 7-9Radical: shell8 strokesFrequency #1918

Definitions

  1. worthy or virtuous person
  2. honorific used for a person of the same or a younger generation

Etymology & Origin

pictophoneticmoney

Stroke Order

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8

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
shèng xiána sage
xián huìvariant of 賢慧|贤慧[xian2 hui4]
xián réngreat person of the past
xián míngwise and capable
xián liáng(of a man) able and virtuous
xián nèi zhù(said of sb else's wife) a good wife
zhāo xián nà shìinvite the talented and call the valorous (idiom)
xián shū(of a woman) virtuous
rèn rén wéi xiánto appoint people according to their merits (idiom)
xián cáia genius
xián shìvirtuous person
jí xián dù néng(idiom) to envy the virtuous and talented
xián huì(of a wife) wise and kind
xián zhě shí jiān(slang) post-nut clarity moment
使rèn xián shǐ néngto appoint the virtuous and use the able (idiom)
53
Total compounds
38
As first character
25
As last character
38
As middle character

appears in 53 compound words: 38 as the first character, 25 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 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.

0.4783,246 co-occurrences
xiāng
0.4626,324 co-occurrences
fèng
0.4544,967 co-occurrences
chén
0.4314,584 co-occurrences
zhōng
0.4253,780 co-occurrences
ráo
0.424714 co-occurrences
wèi
0.3962,388 co-occurrences
yàn
0.390876 co-occurrences
0.3861,644 co-occurrences
0.3851,902 co-occurrences

Idioms & Chengyu (17)

dù néng hài xiánHSK 7+

jealous of the able, envious of the clever (idiom)

phrase
dù xián jí néngHSK 7+

see 嫉賢妒能|嫉贤妒能[ji2 xian2 du4 neng2]

phrase
jí xián dù néngHSK 7+

(idiom) to envy the virtuous and talented

phrase
jiànxiánsīqíHSK 7+

to see a virtuous person and think of following their example

phrase
jìng lǎo zūn xiánHSK 7+

to respect the wise and venerate the worthy (idiom); to honor the great and the good

phrase
jìngxiánlǐshìHSK 7+

to respect people of talent and ability (said of a superior)

phrase
lǐxiánxiàshìHSK 7+

to treat people of talent and virtue with courtesy and respect

phrase
Pǔxián PúsàHSK 7+

Samantabhadra bodhisattva

qiú xián ruò kěHSK 7+

(idiom) to eagerly seek talented people

phrase
rènrénwéixiánHSK 7+

to appoint people based on merit; meritocracy

verbnoun
使rèn xián shǐ néngHSK 7+

to appoint the virtuous and use the able (idiom); appointment on the basis of ability and integrity

phrase
shí cái zūn xiánHSK 7+

to recognize talent and have great respect for it

phrase

Showing 12 of 17 idioms containing .

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

字虽然难写,但意思很有趣。

xián zì suī rán nán xiě , dàn yì sī hěn yǒu qù .

The character "贤" may be difficult to write, but its meaning is quite interesting.

三立新聞網Feb 2026

刘美冬奥花滑夺金 父亲拒中国金钱招揽

liú měi xián dōng ào huā huá duó jīn fù qīn jù zhōng guó jīn qián zhāo lǎn

Liu Meixian won gold in figure skating at the Winter Olympics, and her father refused China's money solicitation

工商時報Feb 2026

下一个会更好?连明:好的协议比好的时机更重要

xià yī gè huì gēng hǎo ? lián xián míng : hǎo de xié yì bǐ hǎo de shí jī gēng chóng yāo

Will the next one be better? Lian Xianming: A good agreement is more important than a good timing

UdnnewsindexFeb 2026

竹县团拜 陈见、徐欣莹零互动

zhú xiàn tuán bài chén jiàn xián , xú xīn yíng líng hù dòng

Zhuxian group worship Chen Jianxian and Xu Xinying have zero interaction

UdnnewsindexFeb 2026

美关税新变局 中经院院长连明:重谈台美协定是下策

měi guān shuì xīn biàn jú zhōng jīng yuàn yuàn cháng lián xián míng : chóng tán tái měi xié dìng shì xià cè

New changes in US tariffs Lian Xianxian, president of the China Economic Institute: Revisiting the Taiwan-US agreement is the last policy

百度新闻Feb 2026

柴火灶里烧出的“团聚”,藏着最浓的奉年味丨有一种..

chái huǒ zào lǐ shāo chū de tuán jù , zàng zhe zuì nóng de fèng xián nián wèi 丨 yǒu yī zhǒng . .

The "reunion" burned in the wood stove hides the strongest Fengxian New Year's flavor丨There is a kind:

Tatoeba

良禽择木而栖,臣择主而事。

Liángqínzémù'érqī, xián chén zé zhǔ ér shì.

A prudent bird chooses its tree. A wise servant chooses his master.

Tatoeba

这些书是治的吗?

Zhèxiē shū shì xián zhì de ma?

Are these books Kenji's?

Tatoeba

治的英语说得很流利。

Xián zhì de Yīngyǔ shuō dehěn liúlì.

Kenji is a good speaker of English.

Tatoeba

历览前国与家,成由勤俭破由奢。

Lì lǎn qián xián guó yǔ jiā, chéng yóu qínjiǎn pò yóu shē.

Looking back at the former wise rulers and nations, their success was achieved through diligence and frugality, while their downfall was caused by extravagance and luxury.

Character Family

Homophones — Characters pronounced xián

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 贤 (xián) mean in Chinese?
贤 (xián) primarily means "worthy or virtuous person." It is classified as HSK Level 7-9, making it an expert-level character. It ranks #1918 in character frequency.
How many strokes does 贤 have?
贤 is written with 8 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 贤?
The radical associated with 贤 is 贝 (shell). This radical appears in many characters related to shell.
What are common words containing 贤?
Common words with 贤 include: 圣贤 (shèng xián, "a sage"); 贤惠 (xián huì, "variant of 賢慧|贤慧[xian2 hui4]"); 贤人 (xián rén, "great person of the past"); 贤明 (xián míng, "wise and capable"); 贤良 (xián liáng, "(of a man) able and virtuous"). There are over 53 compound words containing this character.
What characters sound the same as 贤 (xián)?
Several characters share the pronunciation xián: 先 (beforehand), 鲜 (fresh), 闲 (idle, free), 咸 (all), and 6 more. Context and tones help distinguish between them in speech and writing.
Is 贤 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Yes, 贤 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.