莱 (lái): name of weed plant (fat hen, goosefoot, pigweed etc), Chenopodium album

莱 (lái) is a Chinese character meaning “name of weed plant (fat hen, goosefoot, pigweed etc).” Classified as HSK Level 7-9 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), with radical 艹 (grass). It ranks #622 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Native pronunciation

HSK 7-9 Radical: 艹 grass10 strokesFrequency #622

Definitions

name of weed plant (fat hen, goosefoot, pigweed etc)
Chenopodium album

Stroke Order

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

Words & Compounds

Common Compounds

Word	Pinyin	Meaning
好莱坞	hǎo lái wù	Hollywood
克莱尔	kè lái ěr	Claire (name)
布莱恩	bù lái ēn	Brian (name)
克莱	kè lái	Clay (name)
克莱顿	kè lái dùn	(name) Clayton or Crichton
莱斯特	lái sī tè	Lester or Leicester (name)
莱恩	lái ēn	(name) Ryan
布莱尔	bù lái ěr	Blair (name)
劳斯莱斯	láo sī lái sī	Rolls-Royce
贝尔格莱德	bèi ěr gé lái dé	Belgrade, capital of Serbia
克莱斯勒	kè lái sī lè	Chrysler (car manufacturer)
布莱顿	bù lái dùn	Brighton, town in England
莱西	lái xī	see 萊西市\|莱西市[Lai2 xi1 Shi4]
莱特	lái tè	Wright (surname)
莱姆	lái mǔ	(loanword) lime

100

Total compounds

As first character

As last character

As middle character

莱 appears in 100 compound words: 40 as the first character, 15 as the last, and 45 in a middle position. Compound statistics computed from SUBTLEX-CH and HSK 3.0 vocabulary data.

Idioms & Chengyu (6)

克莱斯勒kè lái sī lèHSK 7+

Chrysler (car manufacturer)

phrase

莱昂纳多Lái'ángnàduōHSK 6+

a transliteration of the Spanish or Portuguese male given name Leonardo

莱布尼兹LáibùnízīHSK 7+

a transliteration of the German surname Leibniz

莫拉莱斯MòlāláisīHSK 7+

a transliteration of the Spanish surname Morales

蓬莱仙境péng lái xiān jìngHSK 7+

Penglai, island of immortals; fairyland

phrase

葛莱美奖gé lái měi jiǎngHSK 4+

(Tw) Grammy Award (US music industry award)

phrase

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

老师教我们莱字的发音和笔顺。

lǎo shī jiào wǒ men lái zì de fā yīn hé bǐ shùn .

The teacher taught us the pronunciation and stroke order of the character "莱."

StheadlineFeb 2026

NBA|当积狂轰41分“白做” 太阳奇兵莱斯奥尼尔绝杀3分退湖人

N B A dāng jī kuáng hōng 4 1 fēn bái zuò tài yáng qí bīng lái sī ào ní ěr jué shā 3 fēn tuì hú rén

Yahoo FinanceFeb 2026

联储局穆萨莱姆:目前货币政策适当地平衡风险

lián chǔ jú mù sà lái mǔ : mù qián huò bì zhèng cè shì dāng dì píng héng fēng xiǎn

東方日報Feb 2026

【有胆齐莱】凯旋升形势绝佳

yǒu dǎn qí lái kǎi xuán shēng xíng shì jué jiā

Yahoo FinanceFeb 2026

巴克莱认为万科(02202)正努力避免彻底违约...

bā kè lái rèn wéi wàn kē ( 0 2 2 0 2 ) zhèng nǔ lì bì miǎn chè de wéi yuē . . .

StheadlineFeb 2026

英超|尼高奥莱利生涯首次梅开二度哥迪奥拿喜见青训成果

yīng chāo ní gāo ào lái lì shēng yá shǒu cì méi kāi èr dù gē dí ào ná xǐ jiàn qīng xùn chéng guǒ

Character Family

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 莱 (lái) mean in Chinese?

莱 (lái) primarily means "name of weed plant (fat hen, goosefoot, pigweed etc)." It is classified as HSK Level 7-9, making it an expert-level character. It ranks #622 in character frequency.

How many strokes does 莱 have?

莱 is written with 10 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 莱?

The radical associated with 莱 is 艹 (grass). This radical appears in many characters related to grass.

What are common words containing 莱?

Common words with 莱 include: 好莱坞 (hǎo lái wù, "Hollywood"); 克莱尔 (kè lái ěr, "Claire (name)"); 布莱恩 (bù lái ēn, "Brian (name)"); 克莱 (kè lái, "Clay (name)"); 克莱顿 (kè lái dùn, "(name) Clayton or Crichton"). There are over 100 compound words containing this character.

Is 莱 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?

No. The simplified form is 莱 and the traditional form is 萊.

Practice writing 莱 with real-time feedback

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