How to Write 庚 (gēng) — Meaning “The seventh of the ten Heavenly Stems”

Picture a wide shelter (广) covering a person (人) holding a walking stick (一) — this elderly figure represents age, linking to the word 同庚 (same age). Alternatively, remember that 庚 sounds like "geng" and think of "generation" since it relates to age and calendar cycles.

Pay attention to the stroke order: start with the dot and horizontal of 广, then the left-falling stroke, then write the lower part: horizontal, left-falling, horizontal, vertical, and finally a right-falling stroke (捺). A common mistake is to add an extra horizontal or to misplace the vertical stroke — the lower part has exactly two horizontal lines before the vertical.

Both have the radical 广, but 庄 has 土 (earth) underneath, meaning village, while 庚 has a more complex lower part with a left-falling stroke (撇) and a vertical stroke that goes through two horizontals. In 庚, the lower section looks like a stylized figure, not the simple 土 component.

庚 appears in traditional age expressions like 同庚 (same age) and 年庚 (age), and in the Chinese calendar for years such as 庚子 (Gengzi year, e.g., 2020). It is one of the ten Heavenly Stems and is used in fortune telling and naming, but it is not common in everyday speech.

Common words containing 庚 include: 同庚 (tóng gēng) — Of the same age; 庚子 (gēng zi) — Gengzi (the 37th year of the 60-year cycle); 年庚 (nián gēng) — Age (traditional).