槐 (huái): Chinese scholar tree (Sophora japonica), Japanese pagoda tree

槐 (huái) is a Chinese character meaning “chinese scholar tree (sophora japonica).” Classified as HSK Level 7-9 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of 木 (semantic) and 鬼 (phonetic). It ranks #2809 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Etymologically derived, 槐 tree. Its radical form 木 (tree) appears in many related characters such as 本 (běn, (bound form) root), 机 (jī, machine, opportunity), 条 (tiáo, strip).

Native pronunciation
HSK 7-9Radical: 木 tree14 strokesFrequency #2809木 semantic鬼 phonetic

Definitions

  1. Chinese scholar tree (Sophora japonica)
  2. Japanese pagoda tree

Etymology & Origin

槐

pictophonetictree

Decomposition: ⿰木鬼 (layout: left-right)

Components:木semantic鬼phonetic

Stroke Order

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13

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

Words & Compounds

Common Compounds

WordPinyinMeaning
洋槐yáng huáiblack locust tree (Robinia pseudoacacia)
槐树huái shùlocust tree (Sophora japonica)
国槐树guó huái shùlocust tree (Sophora japonica)
毛洋槐máo yáng huáirose acacia (Robinia hispida, a false acacia)
国槐guó huáilocust tree (Sophora japonica)
指桑骂槐zhǐ sāng mà huáilit. to point at the mulberry tree and curse the locust tree
洋槐树yáng huái shùblack locust tree (Robinia pseudoacacia)
槐荫区huái yīn qūHuaiyin, a district of Jinan City 濟南市|济南市[Ji3 nan2 Shi4], Shandong
刺槐cì huáifalse acacia
槐荫huái yīnsee 槐蔭區|槐荫区[Huai2 yin1 Qu1]
10
Total compounds
30
As first character
50
As last character
20
As middle character

槐 appears in 10 compound words: 30 as the first character, 50 as the last, and 20 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 槐 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.

荫yìn
0.6261,848 co-occurrences
树shù
0.5443,327 co-occurrences
廷tíng
0.4221,326 co-occurrences
刘liú
0.4121,158 co-occurrences
陈chén
0.4101,224 co-occurrences
郭guō
0.406792 co-occurrences
钞chāo
0.404108 co-occurrences
棵kē
0.399132 co-occurrences
王wáng
0.3883,804 co-occurrences
郑zhèng
0.382456 co-occurrences

Idioms & Chengyu (1)

指桑骂槐zhǐsāngmàhuáiHSK 7+

to scold someone indirectly; to make oblique accusations

phrase

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

工人们正在砍伐病槐，防止虫害蔓延。

gōng rén men zhēng zài kǎn fá bìng huái , fáng zhǐ chóng hài mán yán .

Workers are cutting down diseased locust trees to prevent the spread of pests.

中国新闻网_梳理天下新闻Feb 2026

(新春走基层)山西洪洞大槐树:家庭亲子游成主流 根祖文化激活年俗新...

( xīn chūn zǒu jī céng ) shān xī hóng dòng dà huái shù : jiā tíng qīn zǐ yóu chéng zhǔ liú gēn zǔ wén huà jī huó nián sú xīn . . .

(New Year at the grassroots level) Hongdong big locust tree in Shanxi: Family parent-child travel has become the mainstream, and the root ancestor culture activates the new customs of the year...

Character Family

木 Radical Family — Characters sharing the tree radical

案àn柏bǎi板bǎn棒bàng杯bēi标biāo柄bǐng材cái槽cáo柴chái

Related Characters

本běn机jī条tiáo来lái杯bēi果guǒ树shù校jiào样yàng桌zhuō

Homophones — Characters pronounced huái

怀huái徊huái淮huái坏huài

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 槐 (huái) mean in Chinese?
槐 (huái) primarily means "chinese scholar tree (sophora japonica)." It is classified as HSK Level 7-9, making it an expert-level character. It ranks #2809 in character frequency.
What's the difference between 槐 and 瑰?
槐 (huái) and 瑰 (guī) are often confused. confusable. The key distinguishing feature: 木 vs 王 (same 鬼 component).
How many strokes does 槐 have?
槐 is written with 14 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 槐?
The radical associated with 槐 is 木 (tree). This radical appears in many characters related to tree.
What are the components of 槐?
槐 is composed of: 木 (semantic), 鬼 (phonetic). Its IDS decomposition is ⿰木鬼 with a left-right layout. Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.
What are common words containing 槐?
Common words with 槐 include: 洋槐 (yáng huái, "black locust tree (Robinia pseudoacacia)"); 槐树 (huái shù, "locust tree (Sophora japonica)"); 国槐树 (guó huái shù, "locust tree (Sophora japonica)"); 毛洋槐 (máo yáng huái, "rose acacia (Robinia hispida, a false acacia)"); 国槐 (guó huái, "locust tree (Sophora japonica)"). There are over 10 compound words containing this character.
What characters sound the same as 槐 (huái)?
Several characters share the pronunciation huái: 怀 (bosom), 徊 (used in 徘徊), 淮 (name of a river), 坏 (bad, broken). Context and tones help distinguish between them in speech and writing.
Is 槐 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Yes, 槐 is written the same way in both simplified and traditional Chinese.

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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.