How to Write 菹 (jū) — Meaning “pickled vegetables; marshland”

Imagine a grass blade (艹) sitting on a wooden cutting block (且) where you chop vegetables for pickling. This visual of grass on a block helps you recall that 菹 means pickled vegetables or marshland.

Write the grass radical 艹 first as two strokes (horizontal and vertical), then the lower part 且 with 7 strokes, making 11 total. Be careful not to make the top 艹 too wide; it should sit neatly above 且, and the horizontal strokes inside 且 should be evenly spaced.

菹 (jū, pickled vegetables) has the 且 component below 艹, while 兹 (zī, this/now) has 玄 and 艹, and 苧 (zhù, ramie) has 丁 below 艹. Visually, 菹's lower part looks like a block with three horizontal lines, whereas 兹 has a more complex top and 苧 has a simple T-shape.

菹 appears in words like 腌菹 (pickled vegetables) and 菜菹 (same meaning), but it is quite rare in everyday speech and not in HSK vocabulary. It is more likely encountered in classical texts or specialized food writing, especially when describing traditional Chinese pickling methods.

Common words containing 菹 include: 菹草 (jū cǎo) — curly-leaf pondweed; 腌菹 (yān jū) — Pickled vegetables; 菜菹 (cài jū) — pickled vegetables.