丛 (cóng): cluster, collection, collection of books

丛 (cóng) is a Chinese character meaning “cluster.” Classified as HSK Level 7-9 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of 从 (phonetic) and 一 (semantic). It ranks #1665 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Etymologically derived, 丛 one. Its radical form 一 (one) appears in many related characters such as 一 (yī, one), 七 (qī, seven), 三 (sān, three).

Spoken pronunciation

Definitions

  1. cluster
  2. collection
  3. collection of books

Etymology & Origin

丛

pictophoneticone

Decomposition: ⿱从一 (layout: top-bottom)

Stroke Order

1
2
3
4
5

Practice writing 丛 with real-time feedback — trace each stroke in the correct order and build muscle memory in the HanziFeed app.

Words & Compounds

Common Compounds

WordPinyinMeaning
丛林nouncóng línjungle
树丛nounshù cóngthicket
灌木丛nounguàn mù cóngshrub
草丛nouncǎo cóngunderbrush
花丛nounhuā cóngcluster of flowers
丛生verbcóng shēnggrowing as a thicket
丛书nouncóng shūa series of books
人丛nounrén cóngcrowd of people
丛集verbcóng jíto crowd together
太阳神经丛tài yáng shén jīng cóngsolar plexus chakra
丛林法则nouncóng lín fǎ zéthe law of the jungle
丛台区cóng tái qūCongtai, a district of Handan City 邯鄲市|邯郸市, Hebei
孔丛子proper-nounkǒng cóng zǐthe K'ung family Masters' anthology, collection of dialogues between Confucius and his disciples, possibly forged in ...
单丛dān cóngDancong, type of oolong tea
丛谈cóng tándiscussion
21
Total compounds
43
As first character
48
As last character
10
As middle character

丛 appears in 21 compound words: 43 as the first character, 48 as the last, and 10 in a middle position. Compound statistics computed from SUBTLEX-CH and HSK 3.0 vocabulary data.

Strongest Collocations

Characters that most frequently co-occur with 丛 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.

灌guàn
0.6697,318 co-occurrences
书shū
0.5075,510 co-occurrences
草cǎo
0.4873,006 co-occurrences
疏shū
0.466898 co-occurrences
纤xiān
0.459286 co-occurrences
燥zào
0.457298 co-occurrences
坡pō
0.4551,306 co-occurrences
树shù
0.422648 co-occurrences
润rùn
0.422286 co-occurrences
林lín
0.4204,919 co-occurrences

Idioms & Chengyu (1)

百弊丛生bǎi bì cóng shēngHSK 7+

All the ill effects appear. (idiom)

phrase

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

丛字在日常生活中使用频率较低。

cóng zì zài rì cháng shēng huó zhōng shǐ yòng pín lǜ jiào dī .

The character "丛" is not frequently used in everyday life.

中国新闻网·文化Aug 2026

全套丛书共24册,全方位、立体化呈现湖湘大地的历史底蕴、红色风骨与时代风貌。

quán tào cóng shū gòng 2 4 cè , quán fāng wèi , lì tǐ huà chéng xiàn hú 湘 dà dì de lì shǐ de yùn , hóng sè fēng gǔ yǔ shí dài fēng mào .

The complete series consists of 24 volumes, offering a comprehensive and multidimensional portrayal of the historical heritage, revolutionary spirit, and contemporary character of the Huxiang region.

少数派Aug 2026

行业繁荣的背后也乱象丛生,打开购物软件搜索高速风扇,会有很多价格低廉的产品。

háng yè fán róng de bèi hòu yě luàn xiàng cóng shēng , dǎ kāi gòu wù ruǎn jiàn sōu suǒ gāo sù fēng shān , huì yǒu hěn duō jià gé dī lián de chǎn pǐn .

Behind the industry’s boom, however, lies a sea of chaos. If you open a shopping app and search for high-speed fans, you’ll find many low-priced products.

DigitimesApr 2026

深圳建成中国首个万卡级国产算力丛集 打破海外垄断、迈向中国自主算力

shēn zhèn jiàn chéng zhōng guó shǒu gè wàn kǎ jí guó chǎn suàn lì cóng jí dǎ pò hǎi wài lǒng duàn , mài xiàng zhōng guó zì zhǔ suàn lì

Shenzhen Completes Construction of China’s First Domestic 10,000-Card Computing Cluster, Breaking Foreign Monopolies and Advancing Toward China’s Independent Computing Capabilities

EttodayApr 2026

...对撞!零件喷满地4人伤 自小客烂毁冲进草丛

. . . duì zhuàng ! líng jiàn pēn mǎn dì 4 rén shāng zì xiǎo kè làn huǐ chōng jìn cǎo cóng

...Head-on collision! Parts scattered across the ground; 4 injured; the small car was totaled and careened into the grass

Orientaldaily MyFeb 2026

墨西哥毒枭密会情妇曝行踪 躲灌木丛驳火中枪惨死

mò xī gē dú 枭 mì huì qíng fù pù háng zōng duǒ guàn mù cóng bó huǒ zhōng qiāng cǎn sǐ

Mexican drug lord's secret meeting mistress revealed her whereabouts and died tragically after being shot in the bushes

Tatoeba

蜜蜂在花丛中飞行。

Mìfēng zài huācóng zhōng fēixíng.

Bees are flying among the flowers.

Tatoeba

仔细搜寻敌人可能藏身的灌木丛。

Zǐxì sōuxún dírén kěnéng cángshēn de guànmùcóng.

Investigate thoroughly the bushes where the enemy may be hiding.

Tatoeba

他写了一本关于丛林冒险的书。

Tā xiě le yī běn guānyú cónglín màoxiǎn de shū.

He wrote a book about a jungle adventure.

Tatoeba

孩子们在丛林中迷路了。

Háizimen zài cónglín zhōng mílù le.

The children got lost in the jungle.

Character Family

Semantic Family — Characters sharing the 一 (one) component

Homophones — Characters pronounced cóng

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 丛 (cóng) mean in Chinese?
丛 (cóng) primarily means "cluster." It is classified as HSK Level 7-9, making it an expert-level character. It ranks #1665 in character frequency.
What's the difference between 丛 and 纵?
丛 (cóng) and 纵 (zòng) are often confused. confusable. The key distinguishing feature: 一 vs 纟 (same 从 component).
How many strokes does 丛 have?
丛 is written with 5 strokes. The correct stroke order matters for recognition and handwriting speed — practice with the animated guide above to build proper technique.
What is the radical of 丛?
The radical associated with 丛 is 一 (one). This radical appears in many characters related to one.
What are the components of 丛?
丛 is composed of: 从 (phonetic), 一 (semantic). Its IDS decomposition is ⿱从一 with a top-bottom layout. Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.
What are common words containing 丛?
Common words with 丛 include: 丛林 (cóng lín, "jungle"); 树丛 (shù cóng, "thicket"); 灌木丛 (guàn mù cóng, "shrub"); 草丛 (cǎo cóng, "underbrush"); 花丛 (huā cóng, "cluster of flowers"). There are over 21 compound words containing this character.
What characters sound the same as 丛 (cóng)?
Several characters share the pronunciation cóng: 从 (from), 聪 (clever), 匆 (hurried), 葱 (scallion). Context and tones help distinguish between them in speech and writing.
Is 丛 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Yes, 丛 is written the same way in both simplified and traditional Chinese.

Practice writing 丛 with real-time feedback

Trace stroke sequences, hear spoken pronunciation, and build lasting retention with spaced repetition in the HanziFeed app.

Character data sourced from Unihan (Unicode Consortium), SUBTLEX-CH frequency corpus (Cai & Brysbaert, 2010), and Make Me a Hanzi (stroke data). Collocation strength measured via NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information). Verified by the HanziFeed linguistics team.

HSK classification follows the HSK 3.0 Standard (Center for Language Education and Cooperation, CLEC, 2022 revision). Idiom data from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 3.0).

Data last verified: March 2026.