乡 (xiāng): country or countryside, native place, home village or town
乡 (xiāng) is a Chinese character meaning “country or countryside.” Classified as HSK Level 4 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), with radical 幺 (tiny). It ranks #922 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).
Definitions
- country or countryside
- native place
- home village or town
Stroke Order
Practice writing 乡 with real-time feedback — trace each stroke in the correct order and build muscle memory in the HanziFeed app.
Words & Compounds
HSK Vocabulary with 乡
Common Compounds
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 乡下noun | xiāng xia | countryside |
| 乡巴佬 | xiāng ba lǎo | (derog.) country bumpkin |
| 乡下人 | xiāng xià rén | country folk |
| 乡间noun | xiāng jiān | in the country |
| 老乡noun | lǎo xiāng | fellow townsman |
| 梦乡noun | mèng xiāng | the land of dreams |
| 乡亲noun | xiāng qīn | person from one's hometown or home region |
| 异乡noun | yì xiāng | foreign land |
| 入乡随俗phrase | rù xiāng suí sú | (idiom) when in Rome, do as the Romans do |
| 背井离乡phrase | bèi jǐng lí xiāng | to leave one's native place, esp. against one's will (idiom) |
| 思乡verb | sī xiāng | to be homesick |
| 返乡verb | fǎn xiāng | to return to one's home town |
| 他乡noun | tā xiāng | foreign land |
| 穷乡僻壤phrase | qióng xiāng pì rǎng | a remote and desolate place |
| 乡土noun | xiāng tǔ | native soil |
乡 appears in 101 compound words: 34 as the first character, 42 as the last, and 25 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 乡 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.
Idioms & Chengyu (10)
Example Sentences
我在字典里查到了乡字的详细解释。
wǒ zài zì diǎn lǐ chá dào le xiāng zì de xiáng xì xiè shì .
I looked up the detailed explanation of the character "乡" in the dictionary.
国教署投1.4亿 助偏乡839校活化教学
guó jiào shǔ tóu 1 . 4 yì zhù piān xiāng 8 3 9 jiào huó huà jiào xué
The State Education Administration invested 140 million yuan to help 839 schools in rural areas revitalize teaching
河川地生长香氛植物“石荠薴” 花莲光复乡民尝试复育
hé chuān dì shēng cháng xiāng fēn zhí wù shí 荠 薴 huā lián guāng fù xiāng mín cháng shì fù yù
The fragrant plant "Shi Shen Zhi" grows in the river land, and the villagers of Hualien Guangfu try to restore it
...春走基层)福建屏南:古桥“万安”横碧水 乡宴“..
. . . chūn zǒu jī céng ) fú jiàn bǐng nán : gǔ qiáo wàn ān héng bì shuǐ xiāng yàn . .
... Spring to the grassroots) Pingnan, Fujian: Guqiao "Wan'an" Hengbi Water Township Banquet":
冬奥会|家乡连线:“我儿子是冠军!”——宁忠岩家乡....
dōng ào huì jiā xiāng lián xiàn : wǒ ér zǐ shì guàn jūn ! — — nìng zhōng yán jiā xiāng . . . .
Winter Olympics|Hometown Connection: "My son is a champion!" ——Ning Zhongyan's hometown....
冬奥会|家乡连线:“最强夫妻档”!电影都不敢这么演....
dōng ào huì jiā xiāng lián xiàn : zuì qiáng fū qī dàng ! diàn yǐng dōu bù gǎn zhè má yǎn . . . .
Winter Olympics|Hometown Connection: "The Strongest Couple"! The movie doesn't dare to act like this....
他在乡村里过着无忧无虑的生活。
Tā zài xiāngcūn lǐ guò zhe wúyōuwúlǜ de shēnghuó.
He is leading an easy life in the country.
她被安葬在她的家乡。
Tā bèi ānzàng zài tā de jiāxiāng.
She was buried in her hometown.
我在乡下被抚养长大。
Wǒ zài xiāngxia bèi fǔyǎng zhǎngdà.
I was brought up in the country.
我不知道乡愁的滋味。
Wǒ bù zhīdào xiāngchóu de zīwèi.
I don't know what it is to be homesick.
Character Family
幺 Radical Family — Characters sharing the tiny radical
Frequently Asked Questions
What does 乡 (xiāng) mean in Chinese?
How many strokes does 乡 have?
What is the radical of 乡?
What are common words containing 乡?
What characters sound the same as 乡 (xiāng)?
Is 乡 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Practice writing 乡 with real-time feedback
Trace stroke sequences, hear spoken pronunciation, and build lasting retention with spaced repetition in the HanziFeed app.