How to Write 蕠 (rú) — Meaning “Madder / Tangled roots”

Picture a patch of grass (艹) with roots that look like a tangled mess of 'RUs' (like 如). Imagine the character '如' has its strokes twisted together like roots beneath the grass. This visual helps link the shape to the meaning of tangled roots.

Write the top 艹 first: horizontal stroke, then left vertical, then right vertical (the right vertical is slightly longer). The bottom 如 must be centered below: start with 女 (stroke order: left diagonal, right diagonal, horizontal, then left vertical) and then add 口 (square structure). Common mistake is making the 如 too wide or misaligning the grass radical.

蕠 has the phonetic 如 (rú) and means tangled roots, while 蒟 (jǔ) contains 句 and refers to the betel pepper plant, and 蒻 (ruò) contains 弱 and means tender reed shoots. Visually, the bottom parts are different: 如 vs. 句 vs. 弱, so focus on the lower component to tell them apart.

The character 蕠 is very rare and not part of the HSK vocabulary; it appears mostly in botanical or classical texts describing wild grasses or root tangles. For example, 蕠草 (rú cǎo) means a type of wild grass, and 连蕠 (lián rú) describes interconnected roots. Learners may encounter it in specialized plant or herbal literature.

Common words containing 蕠 include: 蕠草 (rú cǎo) — A type of wild grass; 根蕠 (gēn rú) — Root fibers; Tangled roots; 连蕠 (lián rú) — interconnected roots.