How to Write 摭 (zhí) — Meaning “to pick up”

Imagine your hand (扌) picking up all the common people (庶) from the ground to gather them together. The shape of 庶 looks like a crowded group, so you are using your hand to collect them all.

Pay attention to the right side 庶: first write 广 (3 strokes), then the inner part 廿 (4 strokes: two horizontal lines, a vertical, and a bottom horizontal), and finally the four dots at the bottom from left to right. A common mistake is to write the four dots too close together or forget the dot in 广.

摭 (zhí) has the right part 庶 and means "to collect." 掾 (yuàn) has the right part 彖 and is a rare character meaning "official" or "clerk." 揄 (yú) has the right part 俞 and means "to pull" or "to lift," as in the word 揄扬 (to praise).

摭 is not common in daily conversation but appears in formal or literary Chinese, especially in words like 采摭 (to gather information or materials). It is used when describing the act of collecting and selecting, for example in academic writing or classical texts.

Common words containing 摭 include: 采摭 (cǎi zhí) — to collect; to gather (information or materials); 摭拾 (zhí shí) — to collect; 摭取 (zhí qǔ) — to extract.