How to Write 栽 (zāi) — Meaning “to plant; to fall”

Imagine you are using a spade (shaped like the bottom part) to plant a tree (木) in the ground. Then, as you dig, you suddenly fall over — that is the "fall" meaning. The sound "zāi" can remind you of "Zay! I planted a tree and fell down."

When writing 栽, first write the 木 component (horizontal, vertical, left-slant, right-dot). Then write the bottom part: start with a horizontal stroke, then a vertical, then a downward hook, followed by two diagonal strokes and a final left-slant. A common mistake is making the bottom part look like 戈 (used in 我); remember 栽 has an extra horizontal stroke and a hook.

栽 (zāi) has a bottom part that looks like a tool (戉), while 杪 (miǎo) has 少 (few) under 木, and 杭 (háng) has 亢 over 木. Visually, 栽's lower section has a hook and multiple diagonal strokes, whereas 杪 is simpler and 杭 has a straight vertical with a cross. Their meanings are also different: 杪 means "treetip" and 杭 is a city name.

栽 is commonly used for planting actions like 栽树 (plant trees) or 栽花 (plant flowers). It also appears in the idiom 栽跟头 (zāi gēn tou), meaning "to tumble" or "to suffer a setback," which is often used metaphorically in conversations about failure. Although not in HSK, this idiom is a useful expression in everyday Chinese.

Common words containing 栽 include: 栽树 (zāi shù) — to plant trees; 栽花 (zāi huā) — to plant flowers; 栽跟头 (zāi gēn tou) — to tumble; to suffer a setback.