How to Write 萼 (è) — Meaning “calyx; sepal”

Imagine a flower's calyx as a little "grass hat" (艹) sitting above the stem. The bottom part 咢 can be remembered as the "ah" sound of surprise when you see the flower’s green cup, so think: "Grass (艹) says 'Ah' (咢) — that's the calyx!"

The top radical 艹 must be written with two horizontal strokes and then two short verticals, not as a single connected shape. The lower part 咢 has two mouths (口) stacked, and the total stroke count is 12 — a common mistake is making the lower section too wide, so keep the whole character balanced.

萼 (è) means calyx, a flower part, while 荷 (hé) means lotus and is used for the whole plant, and 荸 (bí) refers to a water chestnut, a type of edible bulb. Visually, 萼 has 咢 below, 荷 has 何 below, and 荸 has 孛 below — the top radical 艹 is shared, but the bottom parts are completely different.

萼 appears mainly in botanical or scientific writing about flowers, such as 花萼 (calyx) and 萼片 (sepal). It is not common in everyday conversation, but you may encounter it in gardening books or descriptions of plant anatomy, especially for traditional Chinese botanical illustrations.

Common words containing 萼 include: 花萼 (huā è) — Calyx; 萼片 (è piàn) — sepal; 萼绿 (è lǜ) — calyx green.