苇 meaning and stroke order
Reed
How to write 苇, stroke by stroke
7 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 苇
Definitions from CC-CEDICT, grouped by pronunciation.
- (bound form) reed
How 苇 is built
Phono-semantic (sound + meaning) character. Grass.
艹 gives the meaning and 韦 hints at the sound.
Radical: 艹 (grass), shared by 421 characters on this site.
How to remember 苇
The grass radical 艹 on top tells you this is a plant, and 韦 (wéi) below gives the sound. Picture tall grass growing over a riverbank: that is the reed, 苇 (wěi).
苇 is a bound form, so it almost always appears inside words like 芦苇 (lúwěi, reed) or 苇塘 (wěitáng, reed pond). Example: 河边长满了芦苇。(Hé biān zhǎng mǎn le lúwěi.) The riverbank is full of reeds.
Common mistake: Learners often read 苇 with the second tone because its sound part 韦 is wéi, but 苇 is third tone, wěi. Also do not confuse it with 伟 (wěi, great), which shares the same sound part but has the person radical 亻.
Questions about 苇
How many strokes are in 苇?
苇 is written with 7 strokes. The diagrams on this page number every stroke in the order it is written, with the new stroke shown in red.
What does 苇 mean?
苇 (wěi) means reed.
How do you pronounce 苇?
苇 is pronounced wěi, in the third tone (dipping).
What is the radical of 苇?
The radical of 苇 is 艹, which carries the idea of "grass". Dictionaries list 苇 under this radical.
What is the traditional form of 苇?
The traditional form of 苇 is 葦. Traditional characters are used in Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macau; 苇 is the simplified form used in mainland China and Singapore.
Can I say 苇 by itself to mean reed?
Not usually. In everyday speech people say 芦苇 (lúwěi). 苇 alone mostly shows up in compounds or in written and literary contexts.
What is the difference between 芦 and 苇?
Both relate to reeds, and together they form the common word 芦苇 (lúwěi). In modern use you rarely need to separate them. Just learn 芦苇 as one word meaning reed.