How to Write 帑 (tǎng) — Meaning “treasury; public funds”

Imagine a slave (奴) holding a cloth bag (巾) full of money for the public treasury. The cloth bag represents the treasury, and the slave reminds you that it's public funds, not personal wealth.

Write the top radical 巾 first (dot, vertical fold, then vertical stroke), then the bottom component 奴 (starting with the left female radical 女, then right 又). Make sure the top 巾 is wider than the bottom 奴, and the overall character is balanced vertically—a common mistake is making the top too narrow.

帑 (tǎng) means treasury and has the radical 巾 on top with 奴 below. 帆 (fān) means sail, has radical 巾 on the left and 凡 on the right, and is pronounced differently. 师 (shī) means teacher or master, has radical 巾 on the left and 一 (yī) above 巾, not related to treasury at all.

帑 is a formal, literary character used mostly in official or financial contexts, like 公帑 (public funds) or 国帑 (national treasury). You rarely see it in daily conversation; it appears in news reports about government budgets or historical texts about state finance.

Common words containing 帑 include: 公帑 (gōng tǎng) — Public funds; 国帑 (guó tǎng) — National treasury / State funds; 帑金 (tǎng jīn) — treasury funds; public money.