芳 means “fragrant, favorable”

ほう · hou

Also: perfume, balmy

Kun'yomi (Japanese reading)

かんばしい

On'yomi (Chinese reading)

ホウ

JLPT N1 · Taught in secondary school · 7 strokes

The story

Grass (艹) spreading in every direction (方): the scent of flowers drifting outward. 芳香剤 is air freshener, results that are 芳しくない are 'not encouraging', and the 芳名帳 at a wedding or funeral is where guests write their names.

Used in 芳香剤 (houkouzai, air freshener), 芳しい (kanbashii, fragrant/favorable), and 芳名 (houmei, your name, honorific)

More from The Senses

• 眺 gaze
• 臭 smelly
• 盲 blind
• 薫 fragrant
• 匂 smell
• 嗅 smell
• 瞭 clear
• 視 look at
• 聴 listen

Learn 芳 and more kanji free on Fuji Learning · All kanji

Readings from KANJIDIC2, © EDRDG, CC BY-SA.