How to Write 滁 (chú) — Meaning “Chu (name of a river or place)”

Imagine you are at a place called 滁州, where the water (氵) is used to "remove" (除) impurities from famous chrysanthemum tea. This connects the meaning of water and the sound "chú" with the city's special tea product.

Write the water radical 氵 as three dots on the left, then carefully write 除: start with the left ear 阝 (two strokes), then 余 with seven strokes. A common mistake is making the 阝 too big or the 余 too narrow—keep the right side balanced and slightly wider than the left.

滁 has 除 on the right, while 流 has a different right part (㐬) meaning "to flow," and 浙 has 折 meaning "to break." Visually, 滁 looks like water plus "remove," whereas the others have distinct shapes. 滁 is only used in place names, unlike 流 (common verb) and 浙 (province name).

滁 appears mainly in the city name 滁州 in Anhui Province and the river 滁河. It is also part of 滁菊, a famous chrysanthemum tea from that area. Because it is not an everyday word, you will mostly see it in geography or tea culture contexts.

Common words containing 滁 include: 滁州 (chú zhōu) — Chuzhou (a city in Anhui); 滁河 (chú hé) — Chu River; 滁菊 (chú jú) — Chuzhou Chrysanthemum (a variety of tea).