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As a phono-semantic compound, 常 combines the upper component 尚 (shàng), which provides the phonetic element, with the lower radical 巾 (jīn, meaning cloth), which indicates its semantic category. The character originally referred to a type of cloth skirt or lower garment. This concrete meaning later became obsolete as the character was borrowed to express abstract ideas. Consequently, its sense shifted entirely to convey constancy and regularity, which is how it is commonly used today, to describe something as ordinary, frequent, or occurring without significant change.
Etymology Hide
Example Sentences Hide
我常常早起。
妈妈经常做面包。
天气变化是正常的。
我们通常周末去购物。
他不常看电视。
她常常在图书馆学习到很晚。
保持常态对心理健康很重要。
在异常情况下，我们必须采取常规措施。