How to Write 檎 (qín) — Meaning “wild apple; crabapple”

Picture a bird (禽) sitting on a tree branch (木) pecking at a small, tart wild apple. This combines the two parts and the fruit to help recall both the shape and meaning.

The right component 禽 has a top part like 人 followed by a short stroke then a curved hook at the bottom — be careful not to write it as 离. Also keep the left 木 narrow and the right 禽 slightly wider to maintain balance in the 16 strokes.

檎 has 禽 on the right (a bird-like shape), while 榕 has 容 (a roof over a valley). Their meanings differ: 檎 is a crabapple tree, and 榕 is a banyan tree — so 榕 is much more common in southern China.

It is rare and not in HSK, appearing mainly in the term 林檎 (lín qín) for a specific Chinese crabapple, or in botanical writing. In Japanese, 林檎 means "apple," but in Chinese it refers only to a wild, small fruit.

Common words containing 檎 include: 林檎 (lín qín) — Chinese pear-leaf crabapple; 檎果 (qín guǒ) — crabapple; 山檎 (shān qín) — Wild apple.