How to Write 蘅 (héng) — Meaning “asarum (wild ginger) / fragrant herb”

Imagine a scale (衡) made of grass (艹) that measures the fragrance of wild ginger. The smell is so strong that the scale tips, helping you link the character to its meaning "fragrant herb."

Pay attention to the bottom part 衡: it has many horizontal strokes that should be evenly spaced and not too long. The grass radical (艹) on top is small, while the lower section takes up most of the space. A common mistake is writing the left side of 衡 (彳) too wide.

Though all contain the grass radical, 蘅 specifically refers to asarum (wild ginger), while 薰 means "to smoke" or "fragrance" in a general sense. Visually, 蘅 has 衡 below, 薰 has 熏, and 䕭 has a different bottom component (often rare or obsolete).

蘅 is rare in daily conversation and mainly appears in classical poetry or herbal names. For example, the word 蘅芜 (héng wú) refers to fragrant herbs and was famously used as the name of a garden in the classic novel Dream of the Red Chamber.

Common words containing 蘅 include: 杜蘅 (dù héng) — asarum (a type of herb); 蘅芜 (héng wú) — fragrant herbs; 蘅皋 (héng gāo) — fragrant riverbank.