Kilo Lingo

(cháng) - often, frequently, usual, common in Mandarin

cháng

Traditional: 常

Line drawing of 常
Coloured illustration of 常
#1563 of 5,000 Core 5000

Translation

often, frequently, usual, common

Word origin

Originally a noun for a unit of length and by extension constancy, 常 combines the cloth radical 巾 with 尚 (shàng) as phonetic, and came to mean constant or frequent.

Origin
phono-semantic
Root
巾 (jīn, cloth) + 尚 (shàng, phonetic)

Stroke order

Stroke order for 常

常

Examples

。

He often comes to my house as a guest.

。

We often eat at that restaurant.

。

This is a common occurrence.

。

She often thinks of things from her childhood.

冬dōng雪xuě。

It often snows here in winter.

常 (cháng) means often or frequently as an adverb, and usual or common as a stative word. It is the single-character core behind compounds such as 经常 and 常常.

Where this fits

The 1,000 most common Mandarin words

Where this word sits in the core vocabulary, and what to learn around it.

Mandarin vocabulary by HSK level

How many words each level actually needs, with real counts.

Mandarin learning guides

Podcasts, pronunciation traps and the things a word list cannot teach.

Appears in 4 words

Multi-character compounds in the corpus that contain 常.

非常fēi chángextremely, very, unusual正常zhèng chángnormal, regular, ordinary经常jīng chángoften, frequently通常tōng chángusually, normally, generally

Used in

Add to review queue

Track this word in your spaced-repetition queue and be tested on it at the right interval.

Go to my review queue

Mandarin · Free printables

常: worksheet, infographic and listicle

Free printable study downloads for the Mandarin word "常" (often, frequently, usual, common): a worksheet with the answer key built in, an infographic, and a sentence listicle. Open any one to view, print or save.

Free for members

The printable worksheets, infographics and PDFs are free with an account. Start a free week and download as many as you like.

Start your free week

This word is part of lesson 32.