How to Write 茈 (cí) — Meaning “Purple / Water chestnut”

Imagine this (此) grass (艹) growing in a pond where a water chestnut plant sprouts, and its flowers are purple. The grass radical reminds you it's a plant, and the sound is like "see" which helps you remember the pinyin "cí".

Write the grass radical 艹 first with two horizontal strokes and a vertical stroke. Then write 此: start with an upward stroke for 止, followed by 匕 (an L-shaped stroke and a hook). A common mistake is making the lower part of 此 too wide or confusing the strokes of 匕 with another shape—keep 此 compact under the grass.

茈 has the grass radical 艹, while 兹 (zī or cí) has a top part like two dots (丷) and a silk radical 糸, meaning "now" or "this." 芈 (mǐ) looks like a central vertical line through a horizontal stroke and is used mainly as a surname. Visually, 茈 is wider at the top with grass, and its lower part is 此, whereas 兹 and 芈 have very different structures.

茈 is a rare character not in the HSK list. It appears mainly in plant names like 茈草 (purple gromwell, used for dye) and 茈胡 (a medicinal herb). You may also encounter it in classical texts referring to ancient fish (茈鱼).

Common words containing 茈 include: 茈草 (cí cǎo) — Gromwell (purple dye plant); 茈胡 (cí hú) — Bupleurum (medicinal herb); 茈鱼 (cí yú) — A type of ancient fish.