How to Write 笋 (sǔn) — Meaning “Bamboo shoot”

Picture a bamboo plant (⺮) with a small shoot (尹) pushing up from the soil underneath. The pinyin sǔn sounds like "soon," and bamboo shoots appear soon in spring, which matches the word 春笋 (spring bamboo shoots).

Write the bamboo radical on top first: two pairs of short strokes, then the vertical strokes. The bottom part 尹 has three horizontal strokes and a final left-falling stroke; make sure they are balanced and not too wide. A common mistake is confusing the bottom with 君 or adding extra strokes.

All three share the bamboo radical on top, but the bottom parts differ: 笋 has 尹 (a shoot shape), 竺 has 二 (two, often used in names), and 竽 has 于 (a musical instrument). Meaning-wise, 笋 is an edible shoot, 竺 is a surname or refers to bamboo, and 竽 is an ancient wind instrument.

You will see 笋 in food contexts like 竹笋 (bamboo shoots) and 春笋 (spring bamboo shoots), which are seasonal vegetables in Chinese cooking. A common idiom is 雨后春笋 (yǔ hòu chūn sǔn), meaning many new things appear quickly, like bamboo shoots after a spring rain.

Common words containing 笋 include: 竹笋 (zhú sǔn) — Bamboo shoots; 春笋 (chūn sǔn) — Spring bamboo shoots; 笋干 (sǔn gān) — Dried bamboo shoots.