How to Write 樽 (zūn) — Meaning “wine vessel”

Imagine a wooden (木) wine vessel (樽) that is so respected that it is placed on a pedestal (like the top part of 尊). The right side 尊 can be thought of as a bottle with a large opening and a base, helping you recall it holds wine for honored guests.

Pay attention to the right side 尊: it has a short horizontal stroke at the top, followed by the upright radical 酉, and then a long horizontal stroke with two small strokes below. A common mistake is making the 酉 too wide or forgetting the short top stroke, so keep the left wood radical narrow and the right side balanced.

樽 has the wood radical but its right side is 尊, while 榕 has 容 on the right and means banyan tree, and 榍 has 屑 on the right and is a rare character for a wedge or a type of wood. Visually, 樽's right side has a clear "honor" shape (尊) with a large 酉, unlike the other two.

樽 appears mainly in classical or literary references to ancient wine vessels, such as in poetry like Li Bai's "golden goblet" (金樽). In modern Chinese, it is rarely used in daily speech but appears in historical contexts and formal writing about traditional banquets. Learning 樽 helps understand Chinese wine culture and classical literature.

Common words containing 樽 include: 酒樽 (jiǔ zūn) — Wine vessel / Goblet; 金樽 (jīn zūn) — Golden goblet; 礼樽 (lǐ zūn) — Ceremonial wine vessel.