枯 (kū): (of plants) withered, (of wells, rivers etc) dried up, (bound form) dull, boring

枯 (kū) is a Chinese character meaning “(of plants) withered.” Classified as HSK Level 6 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of 木 (structural) and 古 (structural). It ranks #2140 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Etymologically derived, 枯 an old 古 tree 木; 古 also provides the pronunciation. Its radical form 木 (tree) appears in many related characters such as 本 (běn, (bound form) root), 机 (jī, machine, opportunity), 条 (tiáo, strip).

Spoken pronunciation

Definitions

  1. (of plants) withered
  2. (of wells, rivers etc) dried up
  3. (bound form) dull
  4. boring

Etymology & Origin

枯

ideographicAn old 古 tree 木; 古 also provides the pronunciation

Decomposition: ⿰木古 (layout: left-right)

Stroke Order

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9

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

Words & Compounds

HSK Vocabulary with 枯

WordPinyinMeaningHSK
枯燥adjectivekū zàodry and dull6

Common Compounds

WordPinyinMeaning
枯萎adjectivekū wěito wilt
枯竭verbkū jiéused up
干枯verbgān kūwithered
枯死verbkū sǐ(of a plant) to wither and die
海枯石烂phrasehǎi kū shí làn(lit.) until the seas dry up and stones go soft (idiom)
枯干adjectivekū gāndried up
枯叶nounkū yèdead leaf
枯树kū shùwithered tree
油枯yóu kūoil cake
枯槁adjectivekū gǎo(of vegetation) withered
巴枯宁主义nounbā kū níng zhǔ yìBakuninism, the political and social theories associated with the Russian revolutionary and anarchist Mikhail Bakunin...
枯水期kū shuǐ qīdry season
百草枯nounbǎi cǎo kūparaquat
枯草热nounkū cǎo rèhay fever
枯水kū shuǐscarce water
31
Total compounds
68
As first character
16
As last character
16
As middle character

枯 appears in 31 compound words: 68 as the first character, 16 as the last, and 16 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 枯 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.

竭jié
0.6642,206 co-occurrences
萎wěi
0.6611,519 co-occurrences
燥zào
0.560813 co-occurrences
朽xiǔ
0.483158 co-occurrences
枝zhī
0.464468 co-occurrences
悴cuì
0.44420 co-occurrences
煲bāo
0.43436 co-occurrences
凋diāo
0.41236 co-occurrences
叶yè
0.409376 co-occurrences
木mù
0.405952 co-occurrences

Idioms & Chengyu (5)

海枯石烂hǎikūshílànHSK 6+

end of the world

phrase
枯木逢春kūmùféngchūnHSK 7+

to get a new lease of life in a desperate situation

phrase
枯燥无味kū zào wú wèiHSK 6+

tedious; dreary

phrase
搜索枯肠sōusuǒkūchángHSK 6+

to rack one's brain; to think extremely hard

phrase
冢中枯骨zhǒngzhōngkūgǔ

a deadbeat; a useless person; a person without any power or influence

phrase

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

这片森枯里生活着许多珍稀的野生动物。

zhè piān sēn kū lǐ shēng huó zhe xǔ duō zhēn xī de yě shēng dòng wù .

This forest is home to many rare and endangered wildlife species.

LtnApr 2026

台中大雨大坑9号步道枯树倒下砸摊架 幸无人伤

tái zhōng dà yǔ dà kēng 9 hào bù dào kū shù dǎo xià zá tān jià xìng wú rén shāng

Heavy Rain in Taichung: Dead Tree Falls on Street Stall on Trail No. 9 in Dakeng; Fortunately, No One Was Injured

中国新闻网_梳理天下新闻Mar 2026

水利部长江委:今年汛期长江流域来水量偏枯

shuǐ lì bù cháng jiāng wěi : jīn nián xùn qī cháng jiāng liú yù lái shuǐ liàng piān kū

Ministry of Water Resources, Yangtze River Commission: Water inflows into the Yangtze River basin are below average during this year’s flood season

UdnnewsindexMar 2026

审慎因应枯水期用水 台中亮出水情提醒绿灯、新竹维持...

shěn shèn yīn yīng kū shuǐ qī yòng shuǐ tái zhōng liàng chū shuǐ qíng tí xǐng lǜ dēng , xīn zhú wéi chí . . .

Taking a Prudent Approach to Water Use During the Dry Season: Taichung Issues a "Green Light" Water Alert, While Hsinchu Maintains...

Am730Mar 2026

头发|冇染发但头发变枯黄开岔?恐用风筒常洗头习惯出事!医生揭4...

tóu fā 冇 rǎn fā dàn tóu fā biàn kū huáng kāi chà ? kǒng yòng fēng tǒng cháng xǐ tóu xí guàn chū shì ! yī shēng jiē 4 . . .

Hair | Not Dyeing Your Hair, But It’s Still Dry, Dull, and Split-Ended? Your Habits of Frequent Hair Washing and Blow-Drying Might Be to Blame! A Doctor Reveals 4...

中国新闻网_梳理天下新闻Feb 2026

鄱阳湖水位突破8米极枯水位 预计未来一段时期呈波动上涨态势

鄱 yáng hú shuǐ wèi tū pò 8 mǐ jí kū shuǐ wèi yù jì wèi lái yī duàn shí qī chéng bō dòng shàng zhǎng tài shì

The water level of Poyang Lake exceeded 8 meters of extremely dry water level, and it is expected to fluctuate and rise in the coming period

Tatoeba

鲜花因缺水而枯萎

Xiānhuā yīn quēshuǐ ér kūwěi

The flowers withered for want of water.

Tatoeba

一片枯叶落到了地上。

Yī piàn kūyè luò dào le dìshang.

A dead leaf fell to the ground.

Tatoeba

所有花园里的花朵都枯萎了。

Suǒyǒu huāyuán lǐ de huāduǒ dōu kūwěi le.

All the flowers in the garden withered.

Tatoeba

那些花已经枯死了。

Nàxiē huā yǐjīng kū sǐ le.

Those flowers have died.

Character Family

Homophones — Characters pronounced kū

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 枯 (kū) mean in Chinese?
枯 (kū) primarily means "(of plants) withered." It is classified as HSK Level 6, making it an advanced character. It ranks #2140 in character frequency.
What's the difference between 枯 and 下?
枯 (kū) and 下 (xià) are often confused. antonym. The key distinguishing feature: 枯 (up) vs 下 (down).
How many strokes does 枯 have?
枯 is written with 9 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 枯?
The radical associated with 枯 is 木 (tree). This radical appears in many characters related to tree.
What are the components of 枯?
枯 is composed of: 木 (structural), 古 (structural). Its IDS decomposition is ⿰木古 with a left-right layout. Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.
What are common words containing 枯?
Common words with 枯 include: 枯燥 (kū zào, "dry and dull"); 枯萎 (kū wěi, "to wilt"); 枯竭 (kū jié, "used up"); 干枯 (gān kū, "withered"); 枯死 (kū sǐ, "(of a plant) to wither and die"). There are over 31 compound words containing this character.
What characters sound the same as 枯 (kū)?
Several characters share the pronunciation kū: 苦 (bitter, suffer), 库 (warehouse), 哭 (to cry), 酷 (ruthless), and 2 more. Context and tones help distinguish between them in speech and writing.
Is 枯 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Yes, 枯 is written the same way in both simplified and traditional Chinese.

Practice writing 枯 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.