How to Write 茎 (jīng) — Meaning “stem”

Imagine a grass (艹) growing upward, and underneath is a stem that looks like the letter 'Y' with a line through it (巠). So you can think: a grass plant with a distinct stem shape below.

The top grass radical 艹 should be written first, with the bottom 巠 starting just beneath it. A common mistake is making the bottom too wide or misplacing the vertical strokes; keep the character balanced and compact.

茎 (jīng) means 'stem' and uses the phonetic 巠. 兹 (zī) means 'now' or 'this' and has 玄 underneath, not related to plants. 艻 (lè) is a rare character for a grass type, with 力 underneath. Visual and meaning differences are clear when you compare the bottom parts.

茎 is commonly used in botany, agriculture, and cooking to refer to plant stems, such as 花茎 (flower stalk) or 根茎 (rhizome). It also appears in traditional Chinese medicine when describing medicinal plant parts, but it is not part of basic HSK vocabulary.

Common words containing 茎 include: 茎部 (jīng bù) — stem part; 根茎 (gēn jīng) — Rhizome; Rootstock; 花茎 (huā jīng) — Flower stalk / Stem.