How to Write 枳 (zhǐ) — Meaning “trifoliate orange”

Imagine a tree (木) that only (只) produces bitter oranges used in medicine. The right side 只 looks like a small mouth saying "only this fruit," helping you link it to the specific plant.

Write left radical 木 first (vertical, horizontal, left-falling, right-falling), then right part 只 (top 口: vertical, horizontal fold, bottom horizontal; bottom 八: left-falling, right-falling). Keep the left side narrow; a common mistake is making the right 只 too wide or misplacing the final falling stroke.

杆 (gǎn) has 干 (dry) on the right and means "pole" or "rod." 杈 (chà) has 叉 (fork) on the right and means "branch fork." 枳 uses 只 (zhǐ) for sound and always refers to the trifoliate orange plant or its medicinal parts.

枳 appears mainly in traditional Chinese medicine terms like 枳壳 (dried bitter orange) and 枳实 (immature bitter orange) for treating digestion. It is rarely used in daily speech but is well known in herbal medicine and classical Chinese literature.

Common words containing 枳 include: 枳壳 (zhǐ ké) — dried bitter orange (used in Chinese medicine); 枳实 (zhǐ shí) — immature bitter orange (used in Chinese medicine); 枳机 (zhǐ jī) — a type of tall grass (Achnatherum splendens).