How to Write 籍 (jí) — Meaning “record / register / native place”

Picture a bamboo book (竹) for recording (耤) important information like your nationality (国籍) or household register (户籍). The bottom part 耤 looks like a plow (耒) and a mouth (口) — imagine a farmer using bamboo slips to record his fields and family details.

With 20 strokes, keep the top 竹 compact and balanced — both halves should be equal in size. The bottom 耤 has many horizontal strokes; write them evenly spaced and not too long. A common mistake is making the bamboo radical too wide, which makes the character look unbalanced.

籍 (jí) means a record or register, while 簟 (diàn) means a bamboo mat and 簦 (dēng) means an umbrella. Visually, 籍 has the bottom part 耤, 簟 has 覃 (tán), and 簦 has 登 (dēng). In usage, 籍 is very common in words like 国籍 (nationality), but 簟 and 簦 are rarely used in modern Chinese.

You will find 籍 in formal terms such as 国籍 (nationality), 户籍 (household register), and 书籍 (books). It appears in official documents and everyday writing about identity and records. Culturally, 户 (household) and 籍 (register) are important for China's household registration system (户口), which ties a person to their birthplace.

Common words containing 籍 include: 书籍 (shū jí) — Books; 国籍 (guó jí) — Nationality; 户籍 (hù jí) — household register; census register.