How to Write 麇 (jūn) — Meaning “Muntjac / Group”

Picture a deer (鹿) with a ruler (君) standing in front of a large group of deer — this visual helps you remember both meanings: muntjac (a deer) and group. Imagine the ruler deer calling all the other deer to gather, linking to the word 麇集 (to gather in large numbers).

Start by writing the left-side radical 鹿 (deer) with 11 strokes, making it narrow and tall; then write the right-side 君 (ruler) with 7 strokes, ensuring it aligns vertically. A common mistake is making the 鹿 radical too wide, which throws off the balance — keep the left part compact so the whole character fits evenly in a square.

麇 has the bottom part 君 (ruler), while 麃 (biāo) has 勺 (spoon) below and means a type of white deer, and 麈 (zhǔ) has 主 (master) below and refers to a larger deer or a dusting tool. Visually, 麇 has a clear 'ruler' component with a mouth and horizontal lines, unlike the simpler shapes in the other two.

In modern Chinese, 麇 appears mainly in literary or formal terms like 麇集 (jūn jí, to gather in large numbers) and 麇鹿 (jūn lù, Père David's deer), a rare species native to China. The character is uncommon in daily speech, but 麇鹿 holds cultural importance as a unique Chinese deer that was once extinct in the wild and later reintroduced.

Common words containing 麇 include: 麇集 (jūn jí) — To gather in large numbers; 麇鹿 (jūn lù) — Père David's deer; 麇至 (jūn zhì) — To arrive in swarms.