尝cháng

尝

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Simplified · Today

简体

Simplified Chinese

Modern simplified form (簡體). 尝 (cháng) is the simplified version of the traditional 嘗, which originally combined the phonetic component 旨 (tasty) with a fire radical to convey “to taste”; the simplification reduced the lower part while keeping the top element. In modern Chinese it means “to taste” as in 尝试 (to try) and also serves as the adverb “already” in constructions such as 曾经 (once).

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Shuowen

Taste. The character combines 旨 (originally depicting food in a bowl, indicating something tasty) with 尚 as a phonetic component; the oracle bone form shows a vessel containing food, representing the act of tasting. The meaning extended from literally sampling food to trying or experiencing anything. This structure reflects the ancient focus on tasting as the primary way of knowing whether something was good.

Pinyin

cháng· HSK 2

尝cháng

Character evolution

Shuowen

Pinyin