How to Write 荬 (mǎi) — Meaning “sowthistle”

Imagine you go to the market to buy (买) some grass (艹), but instead you get a bitter sowthistle plant. The visual of "buying grass" can help you recall both the shape and the meaning of 荬.

Write the grass radical 艹 first with three strokes: a horizontal line, then left vertical, then right vertical. Then write 买 below with six strokes: start with a horizontal, a hook, a dot, a left-falling stroke, and two more dots. Common mistake is making the grass radical too narrow or misplacing the dots in 买.

荬 has the component 买 (buy) under its grass radical, while 兹 has 丝 (silk) under the grass radical and means 'this' or 'now'. 芈 has a completely different lower part (like羊 with extra strokes) and is used only in ancient names or as a surname. Visually, 荬 is the only one with a clear 'buy' element.

荬 is rarely used alone; it appears in compound words like 苣荬菜 (field sowthistle) and 苦荬菜 (Indian lettuce). These plants are wild vegetables sometimes eaten in parts of China or used in traditional medicine. The character is mostly encountered in botanical or regional food contexts.

Common words containing 荬 include: 苣荬菜 (qǔ mǎi cài) — field sowthistle; 荬菜 (mǎi cài) — sowthistle (a wild vegetable); 苦荬菜 (kǔ mǎi cài) — Indian lettuce.