杏 (xìng): apricot, (bound form) almond

杏 (xìng) is a Chinese character meaning “apricot.” Outside the HSK 3.0 syllabus (CLEC 2022), it is composed of 木 (structural) and 口 (structural). It ranks #2828 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Etymologically derived, 杏 a open mouth 口, waiting for fruit to fall from the tree 木. Its radical form 木 (tree) appears in many related characters such as 木 (mù, wood/tree), 林 (lín, forest, woods), 森 (sēn, forest (dense)).

Spoken pronunciation

Definitions

  1. apricot
  2. (bound form) almond

Etymology & Origin

杏

ideographicA open mouth 口, waiting for fruit to fall from the tree 木

Decomposition: ⿱木口 (layout: top-bottom)

Stroke Order

1
2
3
4
5
6
7

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

Words & Compounds

Common Compounds

WordPinyinMeaning
杏仁nounxìng rénalmond
杏子nounxìng ziapricot
银杏nounyín xìngginkgo
杏树xìng shùapricot tree
杏林nounxìng línforest of apricot trees
杏林区xìng lín qūXinglin District of Xiamen city 廈門市|厦门市 (renamed Haicang District 海滄區|海沧区 in 2003)
红杏出墙phrasehóng xìng chū qiánglit. the red apricot tree leans over the garden wall (idiom)
杏花村nounxìng huā cūnvillage of blossoming apricot trees where one can find a wineshop (reference to the famous poem 清明 by 杜牧)
杏眼xìng yǎnlarge, round eyes (considered beautiful)
杏仁果nounxìng rén guǒ(Tw) almond
杏仁体nounxìng rén tǐamygdala
巴旦杏nounbā dàn xìngalmond (loanword)
杏花岭区xìng huā lǐng qūXinghualing, a district of Taiyuan City 太原市, Shanxi
杏仁核nounxìng rén héamygdala
杏脸桃腮xìng liǎn táo sāi(idiom) (of a woman) having a fair complexion with rosy cheeks
19
Total compounds
79
As first character
11
As last character
11
As middle character

杏 appears in 19 compound words: 79 as the first character, 11 as the last, and 11 in a middle position. Compound statistics computed from SUBTLEX-CH and HSK 3.0 vocabulary data.

Idioms & Chengyu (3)

红杏出墙hóngxìngchūqiáng

to have an affair; to cheat on her husband

phrase
杏仁豆腐xìngrén dòufu

annin tofu; almond tofu

noun
杏脸桃腮xìng liǎn táo sāi

(idiom) (of a woman) having a fair complexion with rosy cheeks; beautiful

phrase

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

爷爷在门前种了一棵杏苗,现在已经长得很高了。

yé yé zài mén qián zhǒng le yī kē xìng miáo , xiàn zài yǐ jīng cháng dé hěn gāo le .

Grandpa planted an apricot sapling in front of the house, and it has grown quite tall now.

中国新闻网·文化Aug 2026

这棵近1900年树龄的银杏树,是电影里一棵古树的原型。

zhè kē jìn 1 9 0 0 nián shù líng de yín xìng shù , shì diàn yǐng lǐ yī kē gǔ shù de yuán xíng .

This ginkgo tree, which is nearly 1,900 years old, served as the inspiration for an ancient tree in the movie.

商業周刊Mar 2026

杏子猪排、段纯贞⋯原来都是它的!拆解王座“...

xìng zǐ zhū pái , duàn chún zhēn yuán lái dōu shì tā de ! chāi jiě wáng zuò . . .

Apricot Pork Chops, Duan Chunzhen... So they were all his! Breaking Down the Throne “...

Hk01.comMar 2026

园游.杏林|葵涌医院完成重建 医患携手迈进新里程

yuán yóu . xìng lín 葵 chōng yī yuàn wán chéng chóng jiàn yī huàn xié shǒu mài jìn xīn lǐ chéng

Yuanyou. Xinglin | Kwai Chung Hospital Completes Renovation; Doctors and Patients Join Hands to Embark on a New Chapter

UdnnewsindexFeb 2026

杏林之耻!桃园涉偷拍狼医 判刑前仍可执业

xìng lín zhī chǐ ! táo yuán shè tōu pāi láng yī pàn xíng qián réng kě zhí yè

A disgrace to the medical profession! Doctor in Taoyuan accused of secret filming still allowed to practice pending sentencing

Vietnam+Feb 2026

探访宁平省广宫祠圣母柳杏像

tàn fǎng nìng píng shěng guǎng gōng cí shèng mǔ liǔ xìng xiàng

A Visit to the Statue of Our Lady of Liu Xing at Quangong Temple in Ninh Binh Province

Character Family

Homophones — Characters pronounced xìng

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 杏 (xìng) mean in Chinese?
杏 (xìng) primarily means "apricot." It is not part of the HSK 3.0 syllabus. It ranks #2828 in character frequency.
How many strokes does 杏 have?
杏 is written with 7 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 杏?
The radical associated with 杏 is 木 (tree). This radical appears in many characters related to tree.
What are the components of 杏?
杏 is composed of: 木 (structural), 口 (structural). Its IDS decomposition is ⿱木口 with a top-bottom layout. Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.
What are common words containing 杏?
Common words with 杏 include: 杏仁 (xìng rén, "almond"); 杏子 (xìng zi, "apricot"); 银杏 (yín xìng, "ginkgo"); 杏树 (xìng shù, "apricot tree"); 杏林 (xìng lín, "forest of apricot trees"). There are over 19 compound words containing this character.
What characters sound the same as 杏 (xìng)?
Several characters share the pronunciation xìng: 行 (to walk). Context and tones help distinguish between them in speech and writing.
Is 杏 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Yes, 杏 is written the same way in both simplified and traditional Chinese.

Practice writing 杏 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.