商

商 · shāng

commerce, business, trade

Entry ↗

Meanings & readings

Meaning & readings

commerce, business, trade

Mandarin
shāng
Cantonese
soeng1

Unihan definitions and selected character readings. Read the word to establish its pronunciation in context.

Readings in Japanese, Korean & Vietnamese

Readings recorded for 商 in other language traditions. These are character-level records, not word translations or interchangeable pronunciations.

Japanese 日本語

Grouped by the source’s kana notation; no frequency ranking is implied.

On’yomi · katakana

ショウ

Kun’yomi · hiragana

あきなうあきんどはかる

Katakana generally indicates on’yomi; hiragana generally indicates kun’yomi. The source does not identify everyday, rare, historical or name use per reading. Kana strings are preserved, including any written endings; consult a Japanese word entry for actual use.

Source record & scope

Unicode Unihan 17.0.0 · kJapanese ↗ · provisional property

ショウ あきなう あきんど はかる

Korean 한국어

Hanja readings · Hangul

상

Source codes are separated below. They are neither sounds nor tones; a character reading alone does not specify a whole word’s pronunciation.

Reading sources explained
상
KS X 1001 (0) · Educational Hanja (E)
Source record & scope

Unicode Unihan 17.0.0 · kHangul ↗ · provisional property

상:0E

Vietnamese Tiếng Việt

Character readings · Quốc ngữ

thương

Vietnamese readings associated with this Han character. This field alone does not establish word meanings, current usage, or a complete account of Hán-Nôm reading traditions.

Source record & scope

Unicode Unihan 17.0.0 · kVietnamese ↗ · provisional property

thương

Form & structure

Writing & identity

Unicode
U+5546
Radical
口 · 30
Strokes
11 · Unihan
Residual
8

Source record · Unihan 17.0. Individual senses and historical claims have not yet been reviewed by zimai.

Stroke order

11 strokes
商
Strokes
11
Convention
PRC · Make Me a Hanzi

11 strokes in writing order. Play to watch them, or Step through one at a time.

Modern stroke order; regional conventions can differ. Stroke medians: Make Me a Hanzi via HanziLookupJS, drawn as an even pen line.

Graphical structure

⿳亠丷冏(GHTJKPV)
How to read these symbols

⿰ left–right · ⿱ above–below · ⿻ overlap. Dotted boxes indicate positions, not missing characters. Each symbol describes the components that follow it; nested symbols describe a component in more detail. Source codes identify alternative analyses, not a writing sequence or an etymology.

BabelStone IDS · 2025-06-27. Region tags are preserved; 〾 marks approximation and {n} identifies an unencoded source component. These describe graphical structure, not historical derivation.

Words & connections

Words using 商

Character connections

2 catalogue records include this shape in their first retained IDS. Graphical containment does not imply shared etymology.

History & distinctions

Related forms

No simplified/traditional variant property is retained for this record.

Historical readings

Middle Chinese
syang · 式羊 反切 · #809

Guangyun-based transcriptions · PHONO-ML · CC BY 4.0. These describe historical reading categories, not modern word pronunciation.

Source row & reading categories

CSV line 6450 · syang = 宕開三平陽書

Automatically generated in the source dataset; the authors checked a subset and acknowledge possible errors. All source readings are retained separately. Notation & method ↗

Sources & reference

Evidence & next depth

Source editions & exact scope ↗
Retained Unihan properties
kMandarin
shāng
kCantonese
soeng1
kDefinition
commerce, business, trade
kTotalStrokes
11
kRSUnicode
30.8
kGradeLevel
2
kTGH
2013:2391

Readings across dictionaries

Hanyu Da Zidian
shāng 10288.060
Xiandai Hanyu · 1983
shāng 1000.090
Small numbers locate dictionary entries; 粵 introduces Cantonese. Includes rare or historical readings. Source notation ↗

Reference desk

Sentences in context

Find examples using 商 ↗

The attributed sentence collection is still small; this spelling has no retained example yet.

Study this character

Structure & connections

0.10
238dictionary records using 商2forms using this shape0attributed sound links
⿳ Three rows

Shape description
亠 above 丷 above 冏 · the same shape in all seven regional standards (China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Japan, South Korea, North Korea, Vietnam)
Source notation ^⿳亠丷冏$(GHTJKPV)
BabelStone · 2025-06-27. Encoded shape and region tags; graphical analysis does not establish historical function.

Decompose & trace ↗Browse all 238 word records ↗Explore sound families ↗Component search ↗
Retained descriptions & scope

^⿳亠丷冏$(GHTJKPV)

All alternatives are retained. Only the first description drives component search and graphical links. Counts describe this snapshot, not frequency. Evidence and method.