How to Write 荟 (huì) — Meaning “To gather; to assemble”

Picture a field of grass (艹) where many people are meeting (会) to gather aloe vera plants. The pronunciation 'hui' is the same in both parts, so you can remember that 荟 means 'to gather' because grass meets with a meeting.

Start with the grass radical 艹: write the left and right strokes first, then the vertical line. Next write the lower part 会: the top is 人 (person) with wide strokes, then a horizontal line, and finally a dot and another horizontal. A common mistake is making the 人 too narrow or forgetting the dot in 会.

荟 has the grass radical 艹 and means 'to gather', while 兹 (zī) has no grass radical and means 'now' or 'this', used in formal writing like 兹定于. 芈 (mǐ) has a different radical (羊 without the bottom line) and is a rare surname or sheep sound, not related to gathering.

荟 appears mostly in compound words: 芦荟 (aloe vera) is very common in skincare and health products. 荟萃 is a literary term for a gathering of talented people or fine things, like 人才荟萃 (a gathering of talents). It is not used in casual daily conversation but appears in formal or descriptive writing.

Common words containing 荟 include: 芦荟 (lú huì) — Aloe vera; 荟萃 (huì cuì) — To gather together (of distinguished people or things); 芦荟胶 (lú huì jiāo) — Aloe vera gel.