HSK 3.0 Level 3 · Adjectives

常见 chángjiàn “common” in Chinese

Traditional 常見

What 常见 means

  1. common
  2. often seen
  3. commonly seen
  4. to see sth frequently

How to say 常见

  • Pitch chart of the second tone: rises from mid to high, 3 to 5 on the five-level scale常cháng2nd tone, rising
  • Pitch chart of the fourth tone: falls from high to low, 5 to 1 on the five-level scale见jiàn4th tone, falling

常见 in a sentence

  1. 现在出国留学是很常见的了。

    Xiànzài chūguó liúxué shì hěn chángjiàn de le.

    Studying abroad is very common now.

    Sentence #801304 from Tatoeba · converted to simplified characters

  2. 高速列车在欧洲很常见。

    Gāosù lièchē zài Ōuzhōu hěn chángjiàn.

    High-speed trains are common in Europe.

    Sentence #9962913 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

  3. 土豆是最常见的食材之一。

    Tǔdòu shì zuì chángjiàn de shícái zhī yī.

    Potatoes are one of the most common ingredients.

    Sentence #9794613 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

How 常见 is built

Each colour is one part of the character. Parts repeat across thousands of characters, so learning them makes new words easier. See all 214 in our radicals chart.

The character 常 (cháng) with each of its parts in a different colour
常chángalways
  • 尚still · shàngSound part
  • 巾napkin · jīnMeaning part

巾 hints at the meaning (napkin); 尚 (shàng) hints at the sound. Compare it with cháng.

Memory aidCloth 巾 with 尚 (shàng) for the sound. Its first meaning was a skirt; now it means “often, usual”.

The character 见 (jiàn) with each of its parts in a different colour
见jiànto see
  • 冂down box · jiōng
  • 儿legs · ér

Memory aidSimplified from 見: a big eye 目 on top of a person 儿: to see.

How to write 常见

常 11 strokes · 见 4 strokes

Watch the order, then press Try writing it and draw each stroke in the grid. Each stroke is checked as you go.

常见 (chángjiàn) stroke order chart: each stroke of the characters in the order you write them
Stroke order chart for 常见 (chángjiàn). Red marks the next stroke, so you can copy it onto paper one step at a time.

Words related to 常见

Words with 常

非常fēicháng · extremely常cháng · often经常jīngcháng · often常用chángyòng · commonly used常常chángcháng · often正常zhèngcháng · regular平常píngcháng · ordinary常识chángshí · common sense日常rìcháng · day-to-day通常tōngcháng · regular

Words with 见

看见kànjiàn · to see再见zàijiàn · goodbye听见tīngjiàn · to hear见jiàn · to see见面jiànmiàn · meet/see somebody见到jiàndào · to see不见bújiàn · to be missing遇见yùjiàn · to meet (by chance)意见yìjiàn · idea可见kějiàn · it can clearly be seen (that this is the case)

More words: Adjectives

急jí · anxious大小dàxiǎo · size黄色huángsè · yellow有用yǒuyòng · useful常用chángyòng · commonly used难看nánkàn · ugly难听nántīng · unpleasant to hear安全ānquán · safe

FAQs

常见 (chángjiàn) means “common” or “often seen”. It is an HSK 3.0 Level 3 word.
Say it chángjiàn: cháng with a 2nd tone, then jiàn with a 4th tone. Press Listen at the top of this page to hear it, or Slowly to hear each tone clearly.
In Traditional characters, used in Taiwan and Hong Kong, 常见 is written 常見. The pronunciation is the same.
Add a Chinese (Simplified) pinyin keyboard to your phone or computer, type changjian with no tone marks or spaces, then choose 常见 from the suggestions. Typing changjian into this dictionary’s search box finds it too.
常见 is an HSK 3.0 Level 3 word in the official 2021 syllabus, and it is on our HSK 3.0 Band 5 word list. It is not on the older HSK 2.0 word lists.

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Sources: meaning and pinyin checked by a native Mandarin teacher against the official HSK lists. Extra meanings from CC-CEDICT (CC BY-SA 4.0). Example sentences from Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR). Character parts and stroke order from Make Me a Hanzi.