ZHIZHI 知止 · LEARN CHINESE DAILY

to sing

chàng
11 strokes · 口 (mouth) + 昌 (flourishing, sound chāng) — a mouth in full voice · HSK 2

Where 唱 comes from

昌 is two suns stacked — brightness doubled — and lends both its sound and its energy. Put a mouth 口 beside that double brightness and you get singing: the voice at its most radiant.

唱 in Chinese culture

唱 anchors two pillars of Chinese social life: 唱京剧 Beijing opera, where a single 唱 phrase can take years to master, and KTV, where no mastery is required at all. Refusing to sing at KTV takes more social skill than singing badly.

Example

唱歌 chànggē — to sing (songs)

他唱歌唱得很好。
Tā chànggē chàng de hěn hǎo.
He sings very well.

How to remember it

A mouth 口 shining like two suns 昌 — SINGING at full brightness.

K歌 'K-singing' (from karaoke) is so embedded that 唱K is a standard verb phrase — and booth-sized solo KTV pods in malls let you 唱K alone between errands.

Same sound, different tones

1st chāng
flourishing
2nd cháng
often
3rd chǎng
field
4th chàng
to sing

Words unlocked by 唱

唱歌 chànggē
to sing
合唱 héchàng
chorus
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