How to Write 卒 (zú) — Meaning “soldier; to die; to finish”

Imagine ten (十) soldiers (从, two people) standing under a cover (亠) — they finish their mission (卒 means "to finish"). Another trick: think of "zú" as "zoo" where the soldiers are the animals, and the ten represents their finishing pen.

The stroke order is: dot, horizontal, left-falling, dot, left-falling, dot, horizontal, vertical — 8 strokes total. A common mistake is making the two person components (从) too wide or unbalanced; keep them narrow and centered above the bottom ten. Also ensure the vertical stroke of the bottom 十 is straight and crosses the horizontal exactly in the middle.

卒 has two people (从) above a ten (十), while 倝 has a sunrise (旦) at the bottom and a different top, meaning "sunrise" (rare). 华 looks similar but uses a 化 component (a person and a spoon) on top, and its bottom ten is often wider; 华 means "China" or "splendid." The key is to look for the clear "two people" structure in 卒.

卒 appears in formal or historical terms like 士卒 (shì zú, "soldiers") and 兵卒 (bīng zú, "rank-and-file soldiers"). As a verb, it means "to die" (e.g., 病卒) or "to finish" (e.g., 卒业, "graduate"). In Chinese chess, 卒 denotes the pawn pieces, which advance forward but cannot retreat.

Common words containing 卒 include: 卒 (zú) — soldier; to die; to finish; 士卒 (shì zú) — Soldiers; rank-and-file soldiers.; 兵卒 (bīng zú) — Soldiers; rank-and-file soldiers.