祥 meaning and stroke order
Happiness, good fortune; auspicious
How to write 祥, stroke by stroke
10 strokes in order. Each box adds the next stroke in red. Write top to bottom and left to right, and finish enclosing strokes last.
- 1
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- 10
Meaning of 祥
Definitions from CC-CEDICT, grouped by pronunciation.
- auspicious
- propitious
How 祥 is built
Phono-semantic (sound + meaning) character. Spirit.
礻 gives the meaning and 羊 hints at the sound.
Radical: 礻 (spirit), shared by 43 characters on this site.
How to remember 祥
祥 combines 礻, the spirit or altar radical, with 羊 (yáng), which gives the sound. Picture a sheep standing by an altar as a sign that the spirits are sending good fortune.
祥 rarely stands alone and usually appears in set words like 吉祥 (jíxiáng, auspicious), 祥和 (xiánghé, peaceful and harmonious) and 慈祥 (cíxiáng, kindly). It is common in festival greetings and in names. Example: 祝你新年吉祥。(Zhù nǐ xīnnián jíxiáng.) Wishing you good fortune in the new year.
Common mistake: Learners often write the left side as 衤 (clothing) instead of 礻 (spirit), adding an extra dot. 祥 also gets confused with 详 (xiáng, detailed), which has the same sound and the same 羊 but uses the speech radical 讠.
Common words with 祥
Ordered by HSK level, then by how often they appear in everyday Chinese.
Questions about 祥
How many strokes are in 祥?
祥 is written with 10 strokes. The diagrams on this page number every stroke in the order it is written, with the new stroke shown in red.
What does 祥 mean?
祥 (xiáng) means happiness, good fortune; auspicious. A common word with it is 吉祥 (jíxiáng), meaning "lucky; auspicious".
How do you pronounce 祥?
祥 is pronounced xiáng, in the second tone (rising).
What is the radical of 祥?
The radical of 祥 is 礻, which carries the idea of "spirit". Dictionaries list 祥 under this radical.
Is 祥 on the HSK exam?
Yes. 祥 is part of the HSK 6 character list in the HSK 3.0 standard.
What does 慈祥 mean and who can it describe?
慈祥 (cíxiáng) means kind and gentle in appearance or manner. It is used mostly for older people, such as grandparents, for example 她的笑容很慈祥 (tā de xiàoróng hěn cíxiáng), her smile is very kind. It sounds odd when used for young people.
How do you say something is a bad omen using 祥?
Add 不 to make 不祥 (bùxiáng), meaning ominous or inauspicious. A common phrase is 不祥之兆 (bùxiáng zhī zhào), a bad omen.