綠 meaning and stroke order
Green; chlorine
How to write 綠, stroke by stroke
14 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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- 14
Meaning of 綠
Definitions from CC-CEDICT, grouped by pronunciation.
- green
- (slang) (derived from 綠帽子|绿帽子[lu:4 mao4 zi5]) to cheat on (one's spouse or boyfriend or girlfriend)
- used in names
How 綠 is built
Phono-semantic (sound + meaning) character. Silk.
糹 gives the meaning and 彔 hints at the sound.
Radical: 糹 (silk), shared by 126 characters on this site.
How to remember 綠
綠 (lǜ) is made of 糹, the silk radical, plus 彔 (lù), which gives the sound. Picture silk thread being dyed green, and 彔 telling you it sounds like lù.
綠 is the everyday word for green and appears in color words, nature words, and traffic terms. It is the traditional form; mainland China writes 绿. Example: 前面是綠燈，可以走了。(Qiánmiàn shì lǜdēng, kěyǐ zǒu le.) The light ahead is green, you can go.
Common mistake: Learners often write the tone as lù or forget the umlaut, but the color is lǜ with the ü vowel and a fourth tone. Also do not confuse 綠 with 線 (xiàn, thread), which shares the 糹 radical but has a different right side.
Common words with 綠
Ordered by HSK level, then by how often they appear in everyday Chinese.
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning | Level |
|---|---|---|---|
| 綠色 | lǜsè | green | HSK 2 |
| 綠茶 | lǜchá | green tea; (slang) (of a girl) seemingly innocent and charming but actually calculating an | HSK 3 |
| 綠化 | lǜhuà | to make green with plants; to reforest | HSK 6 |
| 綠燈 | lǜdēng | green light (traffic signal); (fig.) permission to proceed | HSK 7-9 |
| 碧綠 | bìlǜ | dark green | HSK 7-9 |
| 翠綠 | cuìlǜ | greenish-blue; emerald green | HSK 7-9 |
| 綠地 | lǜdì | green area (e.g. urban park or garden) | HSK 7-9 |
| 綠洲 | lǜzhōu | oasis | |
| 綠卡 | lǜkǎ | permanent residency permit (originally referred specifically to the US green card) | |
| 紅綠燈 | hónglǜdēng | traffic light; traffic signal |
Questions about 綠
How many strokes are in 綠?
綠 is written with 14 strokes. The diagrams on this page number every stroke in the order it is written, with the new stroke shown in red.
What does 綠 mean?
綠 (lǜ) means green; chlorine. A common word with it is 绿色 (lǜsè), meaning "green".
How do you pronounce 綠?
綠 is pronounced lǜ, in the fourth tone (falling).
What is the radical of 綠?
The radical of 綠 is 糹, which carries the idea of "silk". Dictionaries list 綠 under this radical.
What is the simplified form of 綠?
綠 is a traditional character. Its simplified form is 绿, used in mainland China and Singapore.
Why does 綠 sometimes mean cheating in slang?
It comes from 綠帽子 (lǜ màozi), a green hat. Saying someone wears a green hat means their partner cheated on them, so 綠 can be used as a verb meaning to cheat on someone. It is informal and can be rude, so use it carefully.
Is 綠 ever read lù instead of lǜ?
Yes, but only in some names, such as place names. For the color and almost all common words like 綠色 (lǜsè) and 綠茶 (lǜchá), the reading is lǜ.