蓬 meaning and stroke order
Disheveled, unkempt; a type of raspberry
How to write 蓬, stroke by stroke
13 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 蓬
Definitions from CC-CEDICT, grouped by pronunciation.
- fleabane (family Asteraceae)
- disheveled
- classifier for luxuriant plants, smoke, ashes, campfires: clump, puff
How 蓬 is built
Phono-semantic (sound + meaning) character. Plant.
艹 gives the meaning and 逢 hints at the sound.
Radical: 艹 (grass), shared by 421 characters on this site.
How to remember 蓬
The grass radical 艹 on top marks a plant, and 逢 (féng) below gives the sound. Picture a wild weed that you meet (逢) everywhere, growing messy and bushy, which is why 蓬 means both fleabane and disheveled.
蓬 rarely stands alone in modern Chinese. It appears in words like 蓬勃 (péngbó, flourishing), 蓬松 (péngsōng, fluffy) and 蓬头垢面 (péngtóu gòumiàn, unkempt). Example: 她的头发很蓬松。(Tā de tóufa hěn péngsōng.) Her hair is very fluffy.
Common mistake: Learners often confuse 蓬 with 篷 (péng, awning or sail), as in 帐篷 (zhàngpeng, tent). Both share 逢 and the same sound, but 蓬 has the grass radical 艹 for plants, while 篷 has the bamboo radical ⺮ for coverings once woven from bamboo.
Common words with 蓬
Ordered by HSK level, then by how often they appear in everyday Chinese.
蓬 in example sentences
Real sentences from the Tatoeba project, with pinyin and English.
Questions about 蓬
How many strokes are in 蓬?
蓬 is written with 13 strokes. The diagrams on this page number every stroke in the order it is written, with the new stroke shown in red.
What does 蓬 mean?
蓬 (péng) means disheveled, unkempt; a type of raspberry. A common word with it is 蓬勃 (péngbó), meaning "vigorous; flourishing; full of vitality".
How do you pronounce 蓬?
蓬 is pronounced péng, in the second tone (rising).
What is the radical of 蓬?
The radical of 蓬 is 艹, which carries the idea of "grass". Dictionaries list 蓬 under this radical.
Is 蓬 on the HSK exam?
Yes. 蓬 is part of the HSK 7-9 character list in the HSK 3.0 standard.
What does 朝气蓬勃 mean and when is it used?
朝气蓬勃 (zhāoqì-péngbó) means full of youthful energy and vitality. It is a positive idiom often used to describe young people, students, or a lively new organization.
Can 蓬 be used as a measure word?
Yes. In literary or descriptive writing, 蓬 can count clumps of plants or puffs of smoke, for example 一蓬竹子 (yì péng zhúzi), a clump of bamboo. In everyday speech, 丛 (cóng) or 团 (tuán) is more common.