How to Write 莳 (shí) — Meaning “to plant; to cultivate; dill”

Picture a gardener with a clock (时) standing under a grass roof (艹), reminding you that planting depends on the right time. Another trick is to think "she grows" — 莳 sounds like "shi" and involves growing plants.

First write the grass radical (艹) with two vertical strokes, then write the bottom part 时: left vertical, horizontal, horizontal, vertical hook, and a dot inside. A common mistake is making the top too wide or forgetting the dot in 时.

莳 has 时 (time) as its bottom, while 兹 (zī) has a bottom that looks like two strands of silk (丝), and 苑 (yuàn) has a bottom part 夗 that resembles a person lying down. Meaning-wise, 莳 is about planting, 兹 means "this" or "now," and 苑 means "garden" or "park."

莳 is rare in daily speech; it appears mainly in formal or literary contexts, such as 莳花 (to plant flowers) or 莳萝 (dill). It is also used in classical gardening texts. For common planting, Chinese speakers prefer 种 (zhòng) or 植 (zhí).

Common words containing 莳 include: 莳萝 (shí luó) — dill; 莳植 (shí zhí) — to plant; to cultivate; 莳养 (shí yǎng) — to raise or cultivate (plants or animals).