■ radical

chéng

to accomplish

How it’s built

Phonosemantic compound. 戊 represents the meaning and 丁 represents the sound. The 戊 (axe) component is used to represent defending a city. Based on the original meaning "city", now written as 城. The meaning later shifted to "build", "accomplish", and "complete".

戊

meaning

fifth Heavenly stem; battle-axe

丁

sound

robust — The pronunciation of 成 was similar to 丁 in old Chinese, but they no longer sound similar in modern Mandarin due to historical phonetic changes.

Appears in

Characters that use 成 as a component, most common first.

城chéngcastle 盛shèngabundant 诚chénghonest 晟chéngbright 誠chénghonest