缕 (lǚ): strand, thread, detailed

缕 (lǚ) is a Chinese character meaning “strand.” Classified as HSK Level 7-9 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of 纟 (semantic) and 娄 (phonetic). It ranks #2688 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Etymologically derived, 缕 thread. Its radical form 纟 (silk) appears in many related characters such as 系 (xì, to connect), 累 (lěi, to accumulate), 绍 (shào, to continue).

Native pronunciation
HSK 7-9Radical: 纟 silk12 strokesFrequency #2688纟 semantic娄 phonetic

Definitions

  1. strand
  2. thread
  3. detailed

Etymology & Origin

缕

pictophoneticthread

Decomposition: ⿰纟娄 (layout: left-right)

Components:纟semantic娄phonetic

Stroke Order

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

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

Words & Compounds

Common Compounds

WordPinyinMeaning
千丝万缕qiān sī wàn lǚ(idiom) intricately interconnected
不绝如缕bù jué rú lǚhanging by a thread
条分缕析tiáo fēn lǚ xīto analyze thoroughly, point by point (idiom)
罗缕纪存luó lǚ jì cúnto record and preserve
纹缕儿wén lǚ rerhua variant of 紋縷|纹缕[wen2 lu:3]
筚路蓝缕bì lù lán lǚthe hardships of beginning an undertaking (idiom)
葛缕子gě lǚ zicaraway
缕述lǚ shùto relate in detail
丝缕sī lǚsilk thread
蓝缕lán lǚvariant of 襤褸|褴褛[lan2 lu:3]
繁缕fán lǚcommon chickweed (Stellaria media)
纹缕wén lǚveined pattern
12
Total compounds
8
As first character
58
As last character
33
As middle character

缕 appears in 12 compound words: 8 as the first character, 58 as the last, and 33 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 缕 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.

丝sī
0.5771,032 co-occurrences
繁fán
0.487624 co-occurrences
衣yī
0.432396 co-occurrences
万wàn
0.431804 co-occurrences
烟yān
0.431144 co-occurrences
千qiān
0.413750 co-occurrences
蓝lán
0.413156 co-occurrences
玉yù
0.395300 co-occurrences
联lián
0.377462 co-occurrences
金jīn
0.363714 co-occurrences

Idioms & Chengyu (4)

不绝如缕bùjuérúlǚHSK 7+

in a desperate situation; faint and long

phrase
千丝万缕qiānsīwànlǚHSK 7+

inexhaustible; linked in countless ways

phrase
条分缕析tiáofēnlǚxīHSK 7+

to make a careful and detailed analysis; to analyze thoroughly point by point

phrase
筚路蓝缕bìlùlánlǚHSK 7+

braving hardships and difficulties in beginning an undertaking

phrase

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

这个缕字在古汉语中有不同的含义。

zhè gě lǚ zì zài gǔ hàn yǔ zhōng yǒu bù tóng de hán yì .

The character "缕" had different meanings in classical Chinese.

Character Family

纟 Radical Family — Characters sharing the silk radical

绊bàn绑bǎng绷bēng编biān辫biàn缤bīn缠chán绸chóu纯chún绰chāo

Related Characters

系xì累lěi绍shào给gěi红hóng级jí纸zhǐ练liàn组zǔ经jīng

Homophones — Characters pronounced lǚ

屡lǚ旅lǚ律lǜ虑lǜ率lǜ绿lǜ

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 缕 (lǚ) mean in Chinese?
缕 (lǚ) primarily means "strand." It is classified as HSK Level 7-9, making it an expert-level character. It ranks #2688 in character frequency.
What's the difference between 缕 and 楼?
缕 (lǚ) and 楼 (lóu) are often confused. confusable. The key distinguishing feature: 纟 vs 木 (same 娄 component).
How many strokes does 缕 have?
缕 is written with 12 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 缕?
The radical associated with 缕 is 纟 (silk). This radical appears in many characters related to silk.
What are the components of 缕?
缕 is composed of: 纟 (semantic), 娄 (phonetic). Its IDS decomposition is ⿰纟娄 with a left-right layout. Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.
What are common words containing 缕?
Common words with 缕 include: 千丝万缕 (qiān sī wàn lǚ, "(idiom) intricately interconnected"); 不绝如缕 (bù jué rú lǚ, "hanging by a thread"); 条分缕析 (tiáo fēn lǚ xī, "to analyze thoroughly, point by point (idiom)"); 罗缕纪存 (luó lǚ jì cún, "to record and preserve"); 纹缕儿 (wén lǚ r, "erhua variant of 紋縷|纹缕[wen2 lu:3]"). There are over 12 compound words containing this character.
What characters sound the same as 缕 (lǚ)?
Several characters share the pronunciation lǚ: 屡 (time and again), 旅 (trip), 律 (law), 虑 (to think over), and 2 more. Context and tones help distinguish between them in speech and writing.
Is 缕 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Yes, 缕 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.