incense, smell, perfume
香 centers on a pleasant or distinctive scent: incense, perfume, or any noticeable smell. The meanings are all applications of the same idea of a fragrant or aromatic quality.
香 combines 禾 (grain plant) and 日 (sun), suggesting the pleasant smell of grain drying in the sun. This is a standard semantic-component explanation.
Grain 禾 under the sun 日 gives off a sweet, natural fragrance. Picture a field of rice drying in the sunlight, filling the air with a warm, pleasant smell.
For コウ, imagine a fragrant incense stick burning in a calm, quiet cove: cove -> コウ, and the scent fills the air.
smell (esp. a good smell); fragrance; scent; aroma; perfume
incense
lance
aroma; fragrance; scent; smell
Hong Kong
Kagawa (prefecture)
perfume; scent
to smell sweet; to be fragrant
aromatic (roasted beans, roasted tea, etc.); fragrant (e.g. burning wood); pleasant-smelling; savory-smelling (e.g. barbecued meat); savoury; appetizing
perfume; fragrance; aroma; balm; sweet scent
flavoring; flavouring; spices
incense stick
spice; spices; condiment
coriander (Coriandrum sativum); cilantro; dhania; Chinese parsley
mosquito coil; anti-mosquito incense
scented insert (to enclose with a letter); perfumed insert
gift brought to a funeral (usu. money); funeral offering; condolence gift; incense money
smell and taste; flavour; flavor
benzoin
burning (offer) incense