How to Write 萁 (qí) — Meaning “bean stalks”

Imagine a bean stalk (萁) growing up from the ground, with the grass radical 艹 as the leaves on top. The lower part 其 looks like the stem with branches; you can think of 'qi' as the sound a bean stalk makes when you snap it. This visual connects the plant meaning to the shape.

The grass radical 艹 should be written as two horizontal strokes with a slight left-right spread, covering the top of 其. The bottom part 其 has horizontal strokes that are shorter than the top radical, so the overall shape is narrow and balanced. A common mistake is making the 其 portion too wide, which makes the character look squat.

萁 (bean stalks) has the grass radical plus 其, while 兹 (this/now) uses 䒑 on top and 么 below, and is not a plant. 苧 (ramie) uses the grass radical with 宁, referring to a specific fiber plant. Visually, 萁's 其 has distinct horizontal strokes inside, while 苧's 宁 has a different structure with a dot.

萁 appears mostly in literary or historical contexts, such as in the idiom '煮豆燃萁' (burning bean stalks to cook beans), describing sibling conflict. It is rarely used in daily conversation but may be encountered in poetry or classic texts. The common word 豆萁 refers specifically to bean stalks used as fuel.

Common words containing 萁 include: 豆萁 (dòu qí) — bean stalk; 燃萁 (rán qí) — to burn beanstalks; 萁草 (qí cǎo) — bean straw.