How to Write 茳 (jiāng) — Meaning “matgrass”

Picture a river (江) surrounded by tall grass (艹) — this is matgrass growing along the water. Imagine the grass waving in the wind by a river, and say 'Jiang-grass' to link the sound (jiāng) with the image.

Write the grass radical 艹 first as three strokes (horizontal, vertical, vertical), keeping it wide enough to cover the lower part. Then write 江 with the three-dot water component (氵) on the left and 工 on the right; note that the top of 工 should align with the middle of the left dots. A common mistake is making the grass radical too narrow, which makes the character unbalanced.

茳 (jiāng) has the 艹 radical and means 'matgrass', while 兹 (zī or cí) has the 䒑 radical on top and 丝 below, meaning 'now' or 'this'. 芈 (mǐ) is a surname or a sheep bleat sound, with the 艹 radical but a different bottom part (丨三). Visually, 茳 has 艹 over 江, 兹 has two 幺-like parts under 䒑, and 芈 has 艹 over a vertical and three horizontal lines.

茳 is a rarely used character, mostly found in specific plant names like 茳芏 (jiāng dù, a type of matgrass used for weaving) and 茳离 (jiāng lí, a seaweed). You may encounter it in botanical texts or regional descriptions of wetland plants; it is not common in everyday conversation.

Common words containing 茳 include: 茳芏 (jiāng dù) — shichito matgrass; 茳草 (jiāng cǎo) — matgrass; 茳离 (jiāng lí) — gracilaria (a type of seaweed).