善
good (virtuous); benevolent; well-disposed; good at sth; to improve or perfect
12 strokes
Dict coverage rank #672 U+5584
How 善 is formed
Ideographic compound (会意字)
To give someone food 羊 and conversation 口
How to remember it
virtuous · Heisig RSH #870
羊 sheep + horns + 口 mouth
Keyword method from Heisig's Remembering Simplified Hanzi.
Characters built with 善 as their sound component
These characters all use 善 (shàn) as their phonetic component — compare how they read:
| Character | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 善 sound component | shàn | good, virtuous, charitable, kind |
| 膳 | shàn | meals, provisions |
| 缮 | shàn | to repair, to mend; to transcribe, to rewrite |
| 蟮 | shàn | earthworm |
| 鳝 | shàn | eel |
| 鄯 | shàn | an ancient district in Gansu province |
Words containing 善
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 日行一善 | rì xíng yī shàn | to do a good deed every day |
| 来者不善，善者不来 | lái zhě bù shàn , shàn zhě bù lái | He who comes is surely ill-intentioned, no-one well-meaning will come (idiom).; Be careful… |
| 善自保重 | shàn zì bǎo zhòng | take good care of yourself! |
| 善解人意 | shàn jiě rén yì | to be good at understanding others (idiom) |
| 人之初，性本善 | rén zhī chū , xìng běn shàn | man at birth is fundamentally good in nature (the first two lines of Three Character Class… |
| 知人善用 | zhī rén shàn yòng | see 知人善任[zhi1 ren2 shan4 ren4] |
| 阿拉善 | Ā lā shàn | see 阿拉善盟[A1 la1 shan4 Meng2] |
| 首善之区 | shǒu shàn zhī qū | (idiom) the finest place in the nation (often used in reference to the capital city) |
| 首善之地 | shǒu shàn zhī dì | see 首善之區|首善之区[shou3 shan4 zhi1 qu1] |
| 面恶心善 | miàn è xīn shàn | to have a mean-looking face but a heart of gold (idiom) |
| 善有善报，恶有恶报 | shàn yǒu shàn bào , è yǒu è bào | virtue has its reward, evil its retribution |
| 不善 | bù shàn | bad; ill; not good at; not to be pooh-poohed; quite impressive |
| 善人 | shàn rén | philanthropist; charitable person; well-doer |
| 心地善良 | xīn dì shàn liáng | kindhearted; good-natured |
| 善心 | shàn xīn | kindness; benevolence; philanthropy; virtuous intentions |
| 性善 | xìng shàn | the theory of Mencius that people are by nature good |
| 善行 | shàn xíng | good actions |
| 行善 | xíng shàn | to do good works; to be merciful |
| 知人善任 | zhī rén shàn rèn | (idiom) expert at appointing people according to their abilities; to put the right people … |
| 善事 | shàn shì | good deeds |