How to Write 芨 (jī) — Meaning “A type of grass”

Imagine a grass that grows "and" spreads quickly — the bottom part 及 means "and" in Chinese, so you can think of a grass that keeps growing and spreading. The top 艹 shows it's a plant, and the sound "ji" is like "jee" for a quick-growing weed.

Start with the grass radical: write the horizontal stroke first, then the two vertical strokes. Then write the bottom part 及: a left-falling stroke, a horizontal fold hook, and a final dot. A common mistake is making the 艹 too wide, so keep it compact above the 及 part.

芨 has the bottom part 及 (jí), while 艺 has 乙 (yǐ) and means "art" or "skill." 艻 has 力 (lì) at the bottom and is a rare character for a type of grass. Visually, 芨's bottom looks like a person reaching, whereas 艺's is a bent hook and 艻's is a simple force radical.

芨 appears mainly in the names of two plants: 白芨 (bái jī), a medicinal herb used to stop bleeding, and 芨芨草 (jī jī cǎo), a tough grass found in northern China. It is not common in daily speech and is mostly seen in traditional medicine or botany contexts.

Common words containing 芨 include: 白芨 (bái jī) — Bletilla striata (a Chinese herb); 芨芨草 (jī jī cǎo) — Splendid achnatherum (a type of grass); 芨 (jī) — A type of grass.