绿 (lǜ): green

绿 (lǜ) is a Chinese character meaning “green.” Classified as HSK Level 2 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of 纟 (semantic) and 录 (phonetic). It ranks #1087 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Etymologically derived, 绿 silk. Its radical form 纟 (silk) appears in many related characters such as 系 (xì, to connect), 累 (lèi, tired), 绍 (shào, to continue).

Spoken pronunciation

Definitions

  1. green

Etymology & Origin

绿

pictophoneticsilk

Decomposition: ⿰纟录 (layout: left-right)

Stroke Order

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11

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

Words & Compounds

HSK Vocabulary with 绿

WordPinyinMeaningHSK
绿色noun/adjectivelǜ sègreen2
绿茶nounlǜ chágreen tea2
红绿灯nounhóng lǜ dēngtraffic light3
绿化verblǜ huàto make green with plants6

Common Compounds

WordPinyinMeaning
绿灯nounlǜ dēnggreen light (traffic signal)
绿卡nounlǜ kǎpermanent residency permit (originally referred specifically to the US green card)
绿洲nounlǜ zhōuoasis
绿叶nounlǜ yègreen leaf
绿帽子nounlǜ mào zigreen hat (figuratively, a symbol of being a cuckold)
绿豆nounlǜ dòumung bean
绿地nounlǜ dìgreen area (e.g. urban park or garden)
绿林nounlù línplace in Hubei, the starting point for a major rebellion at the end of Western Han
翠绿nouncuì lǜgreenish-blue
绿宝石nounlǜ bǎo shíberyl
碧绿adjectivebì lǜdark green
黄绿色huáng lǜ sèyellow green
绿藻nounlǜ zǎogreen algae
常绿树nouncháng lǜ shùevergreen tree
绿党nounlǜ dǎngworldwide green parties
101
Total compounds
63
As first character
20
As last character
17
As middle character

绿 appears in 101 compound words: 63 as the first character, 20 as the last, and 17 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 绿 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.

鸭yā
0.5621,184 co-occurrences
色sè
0.52528,239 co-occurrences
蓝lán
0.5052,220 co-occurrences
阔kuò
0.4991,052 co-occurrences
叶yè
0.4942,880 co-occurrences
舔tiǎn
0.49212 co-occurrences
浅qiǎn
0.4801,004 co-occurrences
荫yìn
0.459390 co-occurrences
蒋jiǎng
0.44724 co-occurrences
黄huáng
0.4472,876 co-occurrences

Idioms & Chengyu (11)

常绿植物cháng lǜ zhí wùHSK 4+

evergreen plant

phrase
戴绿帽子dài lǜmàoziHSK 4+

to cuckold another person; to be cuckolded; to have one's wife or girlfriend cheat on one

verb
红男绿女hóngnánlǜnǚHSK 2+

young men and women in colorful clothes

phrase
花红柳绿huāhóngliǔlǜHSK 7+

profusion of garden flowers

phrase
柳绿花红liǔ lǜ huā hóngHSK 7+

(lit.) green willows and red flowers (idiom); (fig.) all the colors of spring

phrase
绿惨红愁lǜ cǎn hóng chóuHSK 7+

(of women) grieved appearance (idiom); sorrowful mien

phrase
绿草如茵lǜ cǎo rú yīn

green grass like cushion (idiom); green meadow so inviting to sleep on

phrase
绿林豪客lù lín háo kèHSK 6+

see 綠林好漢|绿林好汉

phrase
绿树成荫lǜshùchéngyīnHSK 7+

to have many green leafy trees that form a pleasant shade

phrase
青山绿水qīng shān lǜ shuǐHSK 4+

(lit.) green hills and clear waters (idiom); (fig.) picturesque natural scenery

phrase
芝麻绿豆zhīma lǜdòuHSK 7+

not worth mentioning; of little significance

adjective

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

绿色环保已经成为现代企业发展的重要方向。

Lǜsè huánbǎo yǐjīng chéngwéi xiàndài qǐyè fāzhǎn de zhòngyào fāngxiàng.

Green environmental protection has become an important direction for modern enterprise development.

99 健康网Feb 2026

不升糖的食品有哪些?绿叶菜、鸡蛋、豆腐几乎不升糖吗

bù shēng táng de shí pǐn yǒu nǎ xiē ? lǜ xié cài , jī dàn , dòu fǔ jī hū bù shēng táng ma

What are the foods that do not raise blood sugar? Green leafy vegetables, eggs, and tofu hardly raise sugar

NewsFeb 2026

油品、建案双引擎全开 北基下步锁定绿能

yóu pǐn jiàn àn shuāng yǐn qíng quán kāi běi jī xià bù suǒ dìng lǜ néng

Oil Products and Construction Projects Drive Full-Throttle Growth; Northern Taiwan's Next Focus: Green Energy

NewsFeb 2026

台湾素食龙头弘扬食品 投资4亿打造首座绿电智慧新厂

tái wān sù shí lóng tóu hóng yáng shí pǐn tóu zī yì dǎ zào shǒu zuò lǜ diàn zhì huì xīn hǎn

Taiwan's Leading Vegan Food Company Hongyang Foods Invests NT$400 Million to Build First Green Energy Smart Factory

NewsFeb 2026

2026绿营保守“保五” 4县市拼蓝天换绿地则为大...

lǜ yíng bǎo shǒu bǎo wǔ xiàn shì pīn lán tiān huàn lǜ dì zé wéi dà . . .

2026 Green Camp Aims to Hold Five Seats Four Counties and Cities Compete for Blue Skies, Green Lands as Key Battlegrounds...

百度新闻Feb 2026

...基层丨国网株洲供电公司党员突击队护航春节绿色..

. . . jī céng 丨 guó wǎng zhū zhōu gōng diàn gōng sī dǎng yuán tū jī duì hù háng chūn jié lǜ sè . .

Grassroots | State Grid Zhuzhou Power Supply Company Party Member Task Force Safeguards Green Spring Festival...

Tatoeba

你要绿色的还是蓝色的?

Nǐ yào lǜsè de háishi lánsè de?

Do you want the green or the blue?

Tatoeba

这里小区的绿地面积有多少?

Zhèlǐ xiǎoqū de lǜdì miànjī yǒu duōshao?

What is the size of this district's greenery area?

Tatoeba

你能告诉我红茶和绿茶的区别吗?

Nǐ néng gàosu wǒ hóngchá hé lǜchá de qūbié ma?

Can you tell me the difference between black tea and green tea?

Tatoeba

那幢绿色屋顶的建筑是什么?

Nà zhuàng lǜsè wūdǐng de jiànzhù shì shénme?

What is that building with the green roof?

Character Family

Semantic Family — Characters sharing the 纟 (silk) component

Homophones — Characters pronounced lǜ

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 绿 (lǜ) mean in Chinese?
绿 (lǜ) primarily means "green." It is classified as HSK Level 2, making it a beginner-level character. It ranks #1087 in character frequency.
What's the difference between 绿 and 剥?
绿 (lǜ) and 剥 (bāo) are often confused. confusable. The key distinguishing feature: 纟 vs 刂 (same 录 component).
How many strokes does 绿 have?
绿 is written with 11 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 绿?
The radical associated with 绿 is 纟 (silk). This radical appears in many characters related to silk.
What are the components of 绿?
绿 is composed of: 纟 (semantic), 录 (phonetic). Its IDS decomposition is ⿰纟录 with a left-right layout. Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.
What are common words containing 绿?
Common words with 绿 include: 绿色 (lǜ sè, "green"); 绿灯 (lǜ dēng, "green light (traffic signal)"); 绿卡 (lǜ kǎ, "permanent residency permit (originally referred specifically to the US green card)"); 绿洲 (lǜ zhōu, "oasis"); 绿茶 (lǜ chá, "green tea"). There are over 101 compound words containing this character.
What characters sound the same as 绿 (lǜ)?
Several characters share the pronunciation lǜ: 氯 (chlorine (chemistry)), 律 (law), 率 ((bound form) ratio), 虑 (to think over), and 1 more. Context and tones help distinguish between them in speech and writing.
Is 绿 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
No. The simplified form is 绿 and the traditional form is 綠.

Practice writing 绿 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.