How to Write 壴 (zhù) — Meaning “Zhu (an ancient drum character/radical).”

Imagine a scholar (士) standing on a bean (豆) holding a drumstick, because 壴 looks like a drum shape. The bean acts as a drum stand, and the scholar gives a clue to the pronunciation 'zhu' (similar to 'zhu' as in 'drum'?) Actually, think of it as a decorative drum with a top hat and a round base.

Write the top part 士 first (horizontal, vertical, horizontal) with the vertical stroke centered. Then write the bottom part starting with a vertical stroke, followed by a horizontal fold, then the remaining horizontal, left-falling, horizontal, and final vertical strokes — make sure the bottom box is slightly wider than the top. A common mistake is to make the bottom part too narrow or to forget the left-falling stroke before the last vertical.

壴 has a complete 豆 shape at the bottom (like a tall container), while 声 has a shorter bottom with a hook-like stroke instead of the 豆. 壳 has a bottom that looks like 几 (a table), with a horizontal line and two legs, whereas 壴's bottom has a full rectangular structure with a diagonal stroke inside.

壴 is rarely used alone today, but it appears as a radical (壴部) in characters like 鼓 (gǔ, drum) and 彭 (péng, sound of drums). Culturally, it is an ancient pictograph representing a drum used in ancestral rituals and military ceremonies, reflecting its historical importance in Chinese music and ceremony.

Common words containing 壴 include: 壴字 (zhù zì) — The character '壴'.; 壴部 (zhù bù) — Zhu radical (Radical 151); 壴头 (zhù tóu) — The top part of the character '壴'..