How to Write 荠 (jì) — Meaning “Shepherd's purse”

Think of 荠 as a neat (齐) little plant (艹) — imagine Shepherd's purse growing in tidy rows in a field. You can also remember that the bottom part 齐 looks like two neat stacks of leaves, matching the plant's orderly appearance.

The most common mistake is the order of the grass radical 艹: write the horizontal stroke first, then the left vertical, then the right vertical. For the bottom part 齐, note that the first stroke is a horizontal, then a vertical hook, followed by two crossing strokes — do not connect them incorrectly. Keep the two parts balanced vertically, with the grass radical slightly wider.

荠 has 齐 (neat) under the grass radical, while 兹 has 丝 (silk) or 玄 (mysterious) under the grass — 兹 means 'this' or 'now' and is not a plant. 芈 has a different bottom part (two vertical strokes with a horizontal line) and is a rare character used in ancient surnames or as a sound. Visual difference: 荠's bottom looks like a tidy face, 兹 has a curvy bottom, and 芈 has a simple cross shape.

荠 is almost exclusively used in the word 荠菜 (jìcài), which refers to Shepherd's purse, a common wild vegetable in China. It appears in seasonal dishes like 荠菜饺子 (jìcài jiǎozi) — Shepherd's purse dumplings — and 荠菜汤 (jìcài tāng). Culturally, 荠菜 is associated with spring and is foraged in fields, often evoking nostalgia for rural life.

Common words containing 荠 include: 荠菜 (jì cài) — Shepherd's purse (a wild vegetable); 荠菜饺子 (jì cài jiǎo zi) — Shepherd's purse dumplings; 荠菜汤 (jì cài tāng) — Shepherd's purse soup.