How to Write 葚 (rèn/shèn) — Meaning “mulberry fruit”

Imagine a grass plant (艹) that grows a fruit so sweet it is "very" (甚) delicious — that fruit is the mulberry. You can also think of "ren" as in "ren" (the pinyin) sounding like "rain" — mulberries grow well after rain.

Start by writing the grass radical 艹 as three strokes (horizontal, vertical, vertical), then write the bottom part 甚. The bottom part has a wide top and a narrower bottom; be careful not to make the bottom too square. A common mistake is writing the two vertical strokes inside 甚 too long — they should stop before the final two diagonal strokes.

葚 has the bottom part 甚, while 荷 has 何 (meaning 'what') and 荸 has 孛. Visually, 葚's right side has two horizontal lines at the top, whereas 荷 has a single horizontal and a mouth component, and 荸 has a top like '十' with a curved bottom. In meaning, 葚 refers to mulberries, 荷 means lotus, and 荸 means water chestnut.

葚 appears mainly in the word 桑葚 (sāng shèn), meaning mulberry fruit, which is a common snack and ingredient in traditional drinks. You might see it on menus or in descriptions of seasonal fruits, especially in spring. It is also used in the variant 葚子 (rèn zi), though 桑葚 is more standard.

Common words containing 葚 include: 桑葚 (sāng shèn) — Mulberry fruit; 葚子 (rèn zi) — mulberry fruit; 采桑葚 (cǎi sāng rèn) — to pick mulberries.