唱 (chàng) - Meaning, Stroke Order & Audio

唱

chàng[chang4]Tone 4

to sing

HSK 1

Guru Deep Dive

English · to sing

Cached lesson

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Topology:Left-right

Strokes:11

Writing Balance Rule: Keep the left component (口 mouth) narrow and compact on the upper-left, leaving ample room for the right component (昌 bright/prosperous), ensuring the character does not lean too far to one side.

1. Meaning

to sing

to call loudlyto chantto voice an opinion

VerbNeutral#music#art#sound#performance

Sample Usage

我会唱歌。
wǒ huì chàng gē.
I can sing songs.
他喜欢一边洗澡一边唱歌。
tā xǐhuān yībiān xǐzǎo yībiān chànggē.
He likes to sing while taking a bath.

2. Sound

/[t͡ʂʰɑŋ˥˩]/Tone: 51

唱

chàngchang4

`(51)

=chàng

Initial Consonant

Type: Aspirated Retroflex

Sounds like: tr retroflex sound

AspiratedRetroflex

Airflow Tactile Test: Both curled tongue AND explosive puff of air! Tissue MUST fly.

Tongue & Mouth Position: Tongue tip curled back near the hard palate, releasing a strong puff of air

Final Rhyme

ang

Vowel Group: -a vowel group

Sounds like: ang rhymes with ah-ng nasal sound

Mouth Shape Guide: Pronounce as standalone vowel 'ahng'.

Common Learner Trap: Keep vowel quality steady across all 4 tone contours.

Tone

T4 (51)

5 → 1 (51)

4th Tone (High-Falling)

Tone Pitch & Cadence: Tone 4 starts high and plunges sharply to the bottom, identical to an emphatic English 'No!' or 'Stop!'.

👂

Listening trap: Beginners often confuse the retroflex initial 'ch-' with the dental affricate 'c-'. Make sure your tongue curls back for 'ch-' instead of staying flat behind the teeth.

👋

Physical Tone Gesture: Tone 4 is a sharp downward slash, like nodding firmly in agreement or swinging a hammer straight down from top to bottom.

3. Writing

Topology: Left-right · Strokes: 11 strokes

4. Components

Radical 口 · Mouth radical (Mouth, speaking, singing, or eating)

Semantic Clue (形旁): 口 (Indicates that the action is performed using the mouth (singing, calling))

Phonetic Clue (声旁): 昌 (original sound: chāng)

The mouth radical (口) on the left shows speech or singing, combined with 'prosperous/bright' (昌) on the right, which provides the sound and implies a full, resonant voice.

口 Mouth (semantic)
昌 Prosperous / Bright (phonetic)

Phonetic Family (形声字家族)

7· Phonetic Root: 昌 (chāng)

5. History

Liushu category: Phono-semantic (形声)

Origin: Originally created by combining the mouth symbol (口) to represent vocal sounds with '昌' (chāng) which contributes the pronunciation of making a bright, resounding noise.

Semantic Evolution: Over time, it specialized from general loud calling or chanting into the specific modern meaning of 'to sing' songs and melodies.

The right side '昌' originally depicted two suns stacked together, signifying bright daylight or flourishing light, which lent its sound to 'chàng'.

6. Sinosphere

7. Memory

Vivid Mnemonic Story

You open your MOUTH (口) wide to sing a BRIGHT and prosperous (昌) melody that echoes through the concert hall with a strong falling tone.

Phonetic Family (形声字家族)

昌

chāngprosperous, flourishingWithout the mouth radical on the left, it is the root character meaning prosperous.

倡

chàngto initiate, advocateReplaces the mouth radical with the person radical (亻), meaning a person advocating an idea.

Lookalikes & Traps (形近字)

昌(chāng)

Lacks the mouth radical (口) on the left side.

倡(chàng)

Uses the person radical (亻) instead of the mouth radical (口).

8. Mastery

Active Recall Challenge

她很喜欢在KTV里[___]歌。

Clue: chàng

Common Learner Pitfall

Forgetting to include the mouth radical on the left and writing only the right component '昌', or mixing up the tones by singing it with a rising tone instead of a sharp falling tone.

Memory Prompts

Recognition: When you see the character 唱, what does it mean and how is it pronounced in Tone 4?

Production: How do you write and pronounce the Chinese word for 'to sing'?

唱chàngto sing

Speed:

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