善
Tap the pinyin to hear it
good (virtuous); benevolent; well-disposed; good at sth; to improve or perfect
- HSK 3.0
- Level 3
- Old HSK
- Level 5
- Strokes
- 12
- Radical
- 口 +9
- Structure
- Top–bottom 上下
- Traditional
- 善
- Common rank
- #672
- Unicode
- U+5584
Sound it out + =
Formation & memory
Break the character into parts you already know.
Words with 善
The most common words first — learning a character in context makes it stick.
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 日行一善 | to do a good deed every day | |
| 来者不善，善者不来 | He who comes is surely ill-intentioned, no-one well-meaning will come (idiom).; Be careful… | |
| 善自保重 | take good care of yourself! | |
| 善解人意 | to be good at understanding others (idiom) | |
| 人之初，性本善 | man at birth is fundamentally good in nature (the first two lines of Three Character Class… | |
| 知人善用 | see 知人善任[zhi1 ren2 shan4 ren4] | |
| 阿拉善 | see 阿拉善盟[A1 la1 shan4 Meng2] | |
| 首善之区 | (idiom) the finest place in the nation (often used in reference to the capital city) | |
| 首善之地 | see 首善之區|首善之区[shou3 shan4 zhi1 qu1] | |
| 面恶心善 | to have a mean-looking face but a heart of gold (idiom) | |
| 善有善报，恶有恶报 | virtue has its reward, evil its retribution | |
| 不善 | bad; ill; not good at; not to be pooh-poohed; quite impressive | |
| 善人 | philanthropist; charitable person; well-doer | |
| 心地善良 | kindhearted; good-natured | |
| 善心 | kindness; benevolence; philanthropy; virtuous intentions | |
| 性善 | the theory of Mencius that people are by nature good | |
| 善行 | good actions | |
| 行善 | to do good works; to be merciful | |
| 知人善任 | (idiom) expert at appointing people according to their abilities; to put the right people … | |
| 善事 | good deeds |
Sound family
These characters use 善 as their sound component — compare how they read.
| Character | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 善 sound part | good, virtuous, charitable, kind | |
| 膳 | meals, provisions | |
| 缮 | to repair, to mend; to transcribe, to rewrite | |
| 蟮 | earthworm | |
| 鳝 | eel | |
| 鄯 | an ancient district in Gansu province |