How to Write 藜 (lí) — Meaning “goosefoot; chenopodium”

Imagine a "grass" (艹) growing over a pile of "rice" (黎 contains 禾 for grain) to form a "quinoa plant" (藜麦). This helps connect the grass radical with the grain-like seeds of quinoa.

Write the radical 艹 first (three strokes: horizontal, vertical, vertical). Then write 黎 (15 strokes) by starting with 禾 on top, then 勹, then 氺 (water) at bottom. Be careful with the bottom part 氺: it has three dots surrounding a vertical line, not a water radical 氵.

藜 (lí) means goosefoot or quinoa; 䕭 (qián) is an ancient character meaning a kind of vegetable or grass, but it is extremely rare and not used in modern Chinese. 蕑 (jiān) is a variant of 蕳, meaning a type of orchid or grass, and appears in classical texts. Visually, 藜 uses 黎, 䕭 uses 臤, and 蕑 uses 間, so their lower halves are distinct.

Common words containing 藜 include: 藜麦 (lí mài) — quinoa; 藜科 (lí kē) — Chenopodiaceae (goosefoot family); 藜杖 (lí zhàng) — a walking stick made of goosefoot stalk.