TraceHanzi

棕 meaning and stroke order

zōng

Hemp palm; palm tree

12 strokesRadical 木Traditional 椶
Strokes12
Pinyinzōng
ToneTone 1
Frequency#2,537
Printable worksheet

How to write 棕, stroke by stroke

12 strokes in order. Each box adds the next stroke in red. Write top to bottom and left to right, and finish enclosing strokes last.

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Meaning of 棕

Definitions from CC-CEDICT, grouped by pronunciation.

zōngfirst tone (high and level)
  1. palm
  2. palm fiber
  3. coir (coconut fiber)
  4. brown
  5. variant of 棕[zong1]

How 棕 is built

Phono-semantic (sound + meaning) character. Tree.

mùtree+zōngschool

木 gives the meaning and 宗 hints at the sound.

Radical: 木 (tree), shared by 388 characters on this site.

How to remember 棕

棕 combines 木 (tree) on the left with 宗 (zōng) on the right, which gives the sound. Picture a tree whose trunk is wrapped in rough brown fiber, like a palm tree.

In modern Chinese, 棕 appears most often in 棕色 (zōngsè, brown) and in 棕榈 (zōnglǘ, palm tree). It also names brown animals, as in 棕熊 (zōngxióng, brown bear). Example: 我喜欢那件棕色的外套。(Wǒ xǐhuan nà jiàn zōngsè de wàitào.) I like that brown coat.

Common mistake: Learners sometimes write 粽 (zòng, rice dumpling) instead of 棕, because the right side is the same. Remember that 棕 has the tree radical 木 and is first tone, while 粽 has the rice radical 米 and is fourth tone.

Common words with 棕

Ordered by HSK level, then by how often they appear in everyday Chinese.

WordPinyinMeaningLevel
棕色zōngsèbrown
棕榈zōnglǘpalm tree
棕榈树zōnglǘshùpalm tree
棕熊zōngxióngbrown bear

棕 in example sentences

Real sentences from the Tatoeba project, with pinyin and English.

棕zōng色sè不bú是shì汤tāng姆mǔ天tiān生shēng的de发fā色sè。
Brown is not Tom's natural hair color.
他tā曾céng有yǒu一yī头tóu暗àn棕zōng色sè的de头tóu发fà。
He had dark brown hair.
我wǒ最zuì喜xǐ欢huān的de颜yán色sè是shì棕zōng色sè。
My favorite color is brown.
那nà个ge穿chuān棕zōng色sè大dà衣yī的de女nǚ人rén是shì谁shuí？
Who's the woman in the brown coat?
我wǒ想xiǎng要yào棕zōng色sè的de鞋xié，不bú是shì黑hēi色sè的de。
I want brown shoes, not black ones.

Questions about 棕

How many strokes are in 棕?

棕 is written with 12 strokes. The diagrams on this page number every stroke in the order it is written, with the new stroke shown in red.

What does 棕 mean?

棕 (zōng) means hemp palm; palm tree. A common word with it is 棕色 (zōngsè), meaning "brown".

How do you pronounce 棕?

棕 is pronounced zōng, in the first tone (high and level).

What is the radical of 棕?

The radical of 棕 is 木, which carries the idea of "tree". Dictionaries list 棕 under this radical.

What is the traditional form of 棕?

The traditional form of 棕 is 椶. Traditional characters are used in Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macau; 棕 is the simplified form used in mainland China and Singapore.

Is 棕色 the same as 咖啡色 for brown?

Both mean brown and are used in everyday speech. 棕色 is the standard general word, while 咖啡色 (kāfēisè) literally means coffee color and often suggests a darker, coffee-like brown.

Can 棕 be used alone to mean palm tree?

Usually not in modern speech. People say 棕榈 (zōnglǘ) or 棕榈树 (zōnglǘshù) for palm tree, and 棕 alone tends to appear in compounds such as 棕毛 (zōngmáo, palm fiber).