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常 — always; ever; often

always; ever; often; frequently; common; general; constant

Pinyin
cháng · Cháng
Strokes
11
HSK level
HSK 1
Handwriting
recognition only

This character has more than one reading — cháng, Cháng — and the pronunciation depends on the word it appears in. The list below gives the syllabus reading for each word.

How to write 常: 11 strokes

Each cell adds one stroke to the previous ones, with the new stroke in red. Stroke order is not decoration: it sets the proportions of the character and makes handwriting legible to a reader. The syllabus asks you to recognise this character rather than write it by hand.

常 — 11 strokes, in writing order from left to right.

Build a printable practice sheet with 常

Words with 常 in the HSK syllabus: 25

Every word in the official 2026 syllabus that contains this character, with the level it is introduced at. Learning a character pays off through these: each one combines with the characters you already know.

  1. 非常fēichángvery; really; unusual; extraordinaryHSK 1
  2. 经常jīngchángfrequently; constantly; regularly; oftenHSK 2
  3. 常chángalways; ever; often; frequently; common; generalHSK 3
  4. 常见cháng jiàncommonly seen; common; to see sth frequentlyHSK 3
  5. 常用cháng yòngin common usageHSK 3
  6. 常常chángchángfrequently; oftenHSK 3
  7. 平常píngchángordinary; common; usually; ordinarilyHSK 4
  8. 日常rìchángday-to-day; daily; everydayHSK 4
  9. 正常zhèngchángnormal; regularHSK 4
  10. 常识chángshícommon sense; general knowledgeHSK 5
  11. 时常shíchángoften; frequentlyHSK 5
  12. 通常tōngchángregular; usual; normal; usually; normallyHSK 5
  13. 常规chángguīcode of conduct; conventions; common practiceHSK 6
  14. 常年chángniánall year round; for years on end; average yearHSK 6
  15. 常温chángwēnroom temperature; ordinary temperaturesHSK 6
  16. 家常jiāchángthe daily life of a familyHSK 6
  17. 异常yìchángunusual; abnormal; extremely; exceptionallyHSK 6
  18. 常理chánglǐcommon sense; conventional reasoning and moralsHSK 7–9
  19. 常人chángrénordinary personHSK 7–9
  20. 常态chángtàinormal stateHSK 7–9
  21. 反常fǎnchángunusual; abnormalHSK 7–9
  22. 往常wǎngchángusual; customaryHSK 7–9
  23. 寻常xúnchángusual; common; ordinaryHSK 7–9
  24. 照常zhàochángas usualHSK 7–9
  25. 知足常乐zhīzú-chánglèsatisfied with what one hasHSK 7–9

Glosses come from CC-CEDICT, used under CC BY-SA 4.0, and are the dictionary’s first sense rather than a translation chosen for context.