Chinese Character Wiki
朱

zhū

red pigment

Original meaning: 

tree trunk

Pictograph of a tree (木) with a mark indicating where the trunk is. Based on the original meaning "tree trunk", now written as 株. The current meaning is a phonetic loan.

Components
木 iconic component

木  Iconic component

mù

  

tree

◎ iconic component

◎  Iconic component

  

characterless component

mark indicating the location of the tree's trunk

Evolution

朱 Oracle script (~1250-1000 BC)

Oracle script

(~1250-1000 BC)
朱 Bronze script Mid Western Zhou (~900 BC)

Bronze script

Mid Western Zhou (~900 BC)
朱 Seal script Shuowen (~100 AD)

Seal script

Shuowen (~100 AD)
朱 Clerical script Eastern Han dynasty (25-220 AD)

Clerical script

Eastern Han dynasty (25-220 AD)
朱 Regular script Modern

Regular script

Modern
Definitions

朱  

zhū

cinnabar, vermilion; surname; vermilion

朱  

Zhū

surname Zhu

朱 (硃) 

zhū

cinnabar; see 硃砂|朱砂[zhū​shā]

Most common words with 朱
Freq.
Word
Meaning

朱

cinnabar

朱广沪

Zhu Guanghu (1949-), PRC soccer coach

朱丽叶

Juliet or Juliette (name)

朱利安

Julian or Julien (name)

朱诺

Juneau, capital of Alaska

Component uses

Meaning component in 1 character (0 verified)

硃

Sound component in 14 characters (2 verified)

殊 株 硃 珠 蛛 誅 诛 銖 铢 侏 茱 洙 姝 邾

Historical pronunciation

Old Chinese

Middle Chinese

Pinyin

Gloss

*to

tsyu

zhū

dwarf

*to

tsyu

zhū

red


Statistics

Not found in HSK word list

Appears in 5.8946% of movies

1744th most common character in movies

1120th most common character in books

Miscellaneous

Strokes

6

Unicode

U+6731

Shuowen

“朱，赤心木，松柏屬。从木，一在其中。”


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