How to Write 糠 (kāng) — Meaning “Chaff / Bran / Husk”

Imagine a pile of rice (米) that has been processed and is now "healthy and peaceful" (康) because all the coarse bran has been removed. Or think of "Kāng" as "can" — you can remove the hard husk to get the soft grain inside.

When writing 糠, pay attention to the left radical 米: make sure the last two strokes are a horizontal and then a left-falling stroke (丿), not a dot. The right part 康 has seven strokes: start with a wide horizontal, then a left-falling stroke inside, and finish with the lower part 水 (water radical) which has three strokes — a vertical hook and two small dots. A common mistake is to make the 米 radical too wide, squeezing the right side.

Unlike 糠, which means chaff or bran, 糅 (róu) means to mix or blend, and it is used in words like 糅合 (to mix together). 糇 (hóu) means dry provisions or dried food, often referring to travel rations. Visually, 糅 has 柔 as its phonetic component, while 糇 has 侯; both share the 米 radical but have very different meanings and pronunciations.

Today, 糠 appears mostly in agricultural or food contexts, such as 谷糠 (grain bran) or 米糠 (rice bran). It also appears in the idiom 糟糠之妻 (zāo kāng zhī qī), meaning "the wife who shared chaff and dregs" — a respectful term for a wife who stood by her husband through hard times. In some regions, 糠了 is used to describe fruit or radishes that have become soft and spongy inside.

Common words containing 糠 include: 谷糠 (gǔ kāng) — grain bran; chaff; 糟糠 (zāo kāng) — Chaff and dregs / Poor food; 糠了 (kāng le) — (Of fruit/radish) become spongy or pithy.