竺 (dǔ): surname Zhu, (archaic) Buddhism

竺 (dǔ) is a Chinese character meaning “surname zhu.” Classified as HSK Level 7-9 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), with radical 竹 (bamboo). It ranks #3586 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Native pronunciation
HSK 7-9Radical: 竹 bamboo8 strokesFrequency #3586

Definitions

  1. surname Zhu
  2. (archaic) Buddhism

Stroke Order

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8

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

Words & Compounds

Common Compounds

WordPinyinMeaning
天竺tiān zhúthe Indian subcontinent (esp. in Tang or Buddhist context)
天竺鼠tiān zhú shǔguinea pig
天竺葵tiān zhú kuígeranium (Pelargonium hortorum)
竺可桢zhú kě zhēnZhu Kezhen (1890-1974), Chinese metereologist and geologist
竺法zhú fǎDharma (the teachings of the Buddha, archaic)
竺学zhú xuéBuddhist doctrine (archaic)
竺教zhú jiàoBuddhism (archaic)
竺书zhú shūBuddhist texts (archaic)
天竺牡丹tiān zhú mǔ dandahlia
竺乾zhú qiánBuddha (archaic)
10
Total compounds
60
As first character
10
As last character
30
As middle character

竺 appears in 10 compound words: 60 as the first character, 10 as the last, and 30 in a middle position. Compound statistics computed from SUBTLEX-CH and HSK 3.0 vocabulary data.

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

竺字虽然难写，但意思很有趣。

dǔ zì suī rán nán xiě , dàn yì sī hěn yǒu qù .

Although the character "Zhu" is difficult to write, its meaning is quite interesting.

Character Family

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 竺 (dǔ) mean in Chinese?
竺 (dǔ) primarily means "surname zhu." It is classified as HSK Level 7-9, making it an expert-level character. It ranks #3586 in character frequency.
How many strokes does 竺 have?
竺 is written with 8 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 竺?
The radical associated with 竺 is 竹 (bamboo). This radical appears in many characters related to bamboo.
What are common words containing 竺?
Common words with 竺 include: 天竺 (tiān zhú, "the Indian subcontinent (esp. in Tang or Buddhist context)"); 天竺鼠 (tiān zhú shǔ, "guinea pig"); 天竺葵 (tiān zhú kuí, "geranium (Pelargonium hortorum)"); 竺可桢 (zhú kě zhēn, "Zhu Kezhen (1890-1974), Chinese metereologist and geologist"); 竺法 (zhú fǎ, "Dharma (the teachings of the Buddha, archaic)"). There are over 10 compound words containing this character.
Is 竺 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Yes, 竺 is written the same way in both simplified and traditional Chinese.

Practice writing 竺 with real-time feedback

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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.