How to Write 蔚 (wèi) — Meaning “Luxuriant / Azure”

Imagine a lush field of blue-green grass (艹) growing under a proud, tall 'minister' (尉) – the minister admires the luxuriant azure color. The word '蔚蓝' (azure sky) can remind you that 蔚 contains the grass radical for a plant-like blue shade.

Pay attention to the stroke order: first write the grass radical (艹) as horizontal dash, vertical, vertical, then the bottom part 尉 starts with the horizontal stroke of 尸, then inside 示 (left dot, vertical hook, then two dots). A common mistake is to make the grass radical too wide or to forget the two dots inside 示.

蔚 has the structure 艹+尉 and means 'luxuriant' or 'azure', while 莿 (cì) contains 刺 (thorn) and means 'thorn' or 'to stab'. 菐 (pú) has 艹+業 and refers to 'weeds' or 'overgrown'. Visually, 蔚 uses 尉 (with 尸 and 示), whereas 莿 uses 刺 (with 朿) and 菐 uses 業 (with 木 and 辛). They share the grass radical but differ entirely in pronunciation and meaning.

Common words containing 蔚 include: 蔚蓝 (wèi lán) — Azure / Sky blue; 蔚然成风 (wèi rán chéng fēng) — To become a common practice; 蔚为大观 (wèi wéi dà guān) — To be a grand spectacle.