湘 (xiāng): Hunan, the Xiang River, abbr. for Hunan 湖南 province in south central China, abbr. for Xiangjiang river in Hunan province

湘 (xiāng) is a Chinese character meaning “hunan.” Outside the HSK 3.0 syllabus (CLEC 2022), it is composed of 氵 (semantic) and 相 (phonetic). It ranks #9999 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Etymologically derived, 湘 water. Its radical form 氵 (water) appears in many related characters such as 河 (hé, river), 海 (hǎi, sea), 洋 (yáng, ocean).

Spoken pronunciation
Radical: 氵 water12 strokesFrequency #9999氵 semantic相 phonetic

Definitions

  1. Hunan
  2. the Xiang River
  3. abbr. for Hunan 湖南 province in south central China
  4. abbr. for Xiangjiang river in Hunan province

Etymology & Origin

湘

pictophoneticwater

Decomposition: ⿰氵相 (layout: left-right)

Components:氵semantic相phonetic

Stroke Order

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12

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

Words & Compounds

Common Compounds

WordPinyinMeaning
湘西土家族苗族自治州proper-nounxiāng xī tǔ jiā zú miáo zú zì zhì zhōuXiangxi Tujia and Miao Autonomous Prefecture, in Hunan Province 湖南省
湘东区xiāng dōng qūXiangdong, a district of Pingxiang City 萍鄉市|萍乡市, Jiangxi
湘西州xiāng xī zhōusee 湘西土家族苗族自治州
临湘市lín xiāng shìLinxiang, a county-level city in Yueyang City 岳陽市|岳阳市, Hunan
湘西xiāng xīsee 湘西土家族苗族自治州
湘东xiāng dōngsee 湘東區|湘东区
湘乡市xiāng xiāng shìXiangxiang, a county-level city in Xiangtan City 湘潭市, Hunan
湘军xiāng jūnHunan army, irregular force formed in 1850s to fight the Taiping heavenly kingdom rebellion
湘桥区xiāng qiáo qūXiangqiao, a district of Chaozhou City 潮州市, Guangdong
湘语xiāng yǔXiang (Hunanese) dialect spoken in Hunan Province
湘桂运河xiāng guì yùn héHunan-Guangxi Canal, another name for Lingqu 靈渠|灵渠, canal in Xing'an County 興安|兴安, Guangxi
临湘proper-nounlín xiāngsee 臨湘市|临湘市
湘剧nounxiāng jùXiang opera (Hunan)
湘阴县xiāng yīn xiànXiangyin, a county in Yueyang City 岳陽市|岳阳市, Hunan
湘阴proper-nounxiāng yīnsee 湘陰縣|湘阴县
31
Total compounds
77
As first character
13
As last character
10
As middle character

湘 appears in 31 compound words: 77 as the first character, 13 as the last, and 10 in a middle position. Compound statistics computed from SUBTLEX-CH and HSK 3.0 vocabulary data.

Example Sentences

中国新闻网·体育Sep 2026

主办方供图 本次赛事落地于湘江新区梅溪湖。

zhǔ bàn fāng gōng tú běn cì sài shì luò dì yú xiāng jiāng xīn qū méi xī hú .

Photo courtesy of the organizers. The event took place at Meixi Lake in the Xiangjiang New Area.

中国新闻网·体育Aug 2026

湖湘文化元素贯穿赛事全程。

hú xiāng wén huà yuán sù guàn chuān sài shì quán chéng .

Elements of Huxiang culture were woven throughout the entire event.

中国新闻网·体育Aug 2026

中外骑手竞技湘西龙山 七年骑行IP助力乡村文旅振兴

zhōng wài qí shǒu jìng jì xiāng xī lóng shān qī nián qí xíng I P zhù lì xiāng cūn wén lǚ zhèn xīng

Chinese and International Riders Compete in Longshan, Western Hunan; Seven-Year Equestrian Event Boosts Rural Cultural and Tourism Revitalization

中国新闻网·文化Aug 2026

《湖湘文化》读本首发 完善湖湘特色思政育人体系

hú xiāng wén huà dú běn shǒu fā wán shàn hú xiāng tè sè sī zhèng yù rén tǐ xì

"Huxiang Culture" Reader Launched to Refine the Huxiang-Style Ideological and Political Education System

中国新闻网·文化Aug 2026

聚焦桂北红色热土 长征主题剧《湘江1934的记忆》开机

jù jiāo guì běi hóng sè rè tǔ cháng zhēng zhǔ tí jù xiāng jiāng 1 9 3 4 de jì yì kāi jī

Spotlight on the Revolutionary Heartland of Northern Guangxi: Filming Begins on the Long March-Themed Drama *Memories of the Xiang River, 1934*

Character Family

Semantic Family — Characters sharing the 氵 (water) component

没méi活huó海hǎi清qīng消xiāo流liú满mǎn注zhù激jī洛luò

Related Characters

河hé海hǎi洋yáng江jiāng湖hú溪xī流liú池chí汤tāng汁zhī

Homophones — Characters pronounced xiāng

箱xiāng厢xiāng

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 湘 (xiāng) mean in Chinese?
湘 (xiāng) primarily means "hunan." It is not part of the HSK 3.0 syllabus. It ranks #9999 in character frequency.
What's the difference between 湘 and 北?
湘 (xiāng) and 北 (běi) are often confused. antonym. The key distinguishing feature: 湘 (south) vs 北 (north).
How many strokes does 湘 have?
湘 is written with 12 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 湘?
The radical associated with 湘 is 氵 (water). This radical appears in many characters related to water.
What are the components of 湘?
湘 is composed of: 氵 (semantic), 相 (phonetic). Its IDS decomposition is ⿰氵相 with a left-right layout. Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.
What are common words containing 湘?
Common words with 湘 include: 湘西土家族苗族自治州 (xiāng xī tǔ jiā zú miáo zú zì zhì zhōu, "Xiangxi Tujia and Miao Autonomous Prefecture, in Hunan Province 湖南省"); 湘东区 (xiāng dōng qū, "Xiangdong, a district of Pingxiang City 萍鄉市|萍乡市, Jiangxi"); 湘西州 (xiāng xī zhōu, "see 湘西土家族苗族自治州"); 临湘市 (lín xiāng shì, "Linxiang, a county-level city in Yueyang City 岳陽市|岳阳市, Hunan"); 湘西 (xiāng xī, "see 湘西土家族苗族自治州"). There are over 31 compound words containing this character.
What characters sound the same as 湘 (xiāng)?
Several characters share the pronunciation xiāng: 箱 (box), 厢 (box (in theater)). Context and tones help distinguish between them in speech and writing.
Is 湘 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Yes, 湘 is written the same way in both simplified and traditional Chinese.

Practice writing 湘 with real-time feedback

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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.