苇 (wěi): reed, rush, Phragmites communis

苇 (wěi) is a Chinese character meaning “reed.” Outside the HSK 3.0 syllabus (CLEC 2022), it is composed of 艹 (semantic) and 韦 (phonetic). It ranks #4114 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Etymologically derived, 苇 grass. Its radical form 艹 (grass) appears in many related characters such as 蒸 (zhēng, to steam), 草 (cǎo, grass), 花 (huā, flower).

Spoken pronunciation
Radical: 艹 grass7 strokesFrequency #4114艹 semantic韦 phonetic

Definitions

  1. reed
  2. rush
  3. Phragmites communis

Etymology & Origin

苇

pictophoneticgrass

Decomposition: ⿱艹韦 (layout: top-bottom)

Components:艹semantic韦phonetic

Stroke Order

1
2
3
4
5
6
7

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

Words & Compounds

Common Compounds

WordPinyinMeaning
芦苇nounlú wěireed
东方大苇莺dōng fāng dà wěi yīng(bird species of China) oriental reed warbler (Acrocephalus orientalis)
远东苇莺yuǎn dōng wěi yīng(bird species of China) Manchurian reed warbler (Acrocephalus tangorum)
小苇鳽xiǎo wěi jiān(bird species of China) little bittern (Ixobrychus minutus)
大苇莺dà wěi yīng(bird species of China) great reed warbler (Acrocephalus arundinaceus)
黄苇鳽huáng wěi yán(bird species of China) yellow bittern (Ixobrychus sinensis)
紫背苇鳽zǐ bèi wěi yán(bird species of China) von Schrenck's bittern (Ixobrychus eurhythmus)
布氏苇莺bù shì wěi yīng(bird species of China) Blyth's reed warbler (Acrocephalus dumetorum)
黑眉苇莺hēi méi wěi yīng(bird species of China) black-browed reed warbler (Acrocephalus bistrigiceps)
红颈苇鹀hóng jǐng wěi wú(bird species of China) ochre-rumped bunting
厚嘴苇莺hòu zuǐ wěi yīng(bird species of China) thick-billed warbler (Arundinax aedon)
苇席wěi xíreed mat
细纹苇莺xì wén wěi yīng(bird species of China) speckled reed warbler (Acrocephalus sorghophilus)
水蒲苇莺shuǐ pú wěi yīng(bird species of China) sedge warbler (Acrocephalus schoenobaenus)
噪大苇莺zào dà wěi yīng(bird species of China) clamorous reed warbler (Acrocephalus stentoreus)
22
Total compounds
14
As first character
5
As last character
82
As middle character

苇 appears in 22 compound words: 14 as the first character, 5 as the last, and 82 in a middle position. Compound statistics computed from SUBTLEX-CH and HSK 3.0 vocabulary data.

Example Sentences

中国新闻网·文化Jun 2026

画面中，两只螃蟹衔着芦苇，神态生动。

huà miàn zhōng , liǎng zhī páng xiè xián zhe lú wěi , shén tài shēng dòng .

In the picture, two crabs are carrying reeds in their claws, and their expressions are very lifelike.

中国新闻网·体育May 2026

水杉林、芦苇荡与开阔水域交织。

shuǐ 杉 lín , lú wěi dàng yǔ kāi kuò shuǐ yù jiāo zhī .

Metasequoia forests, reed beds, and open waters intertwine.

Character Family

Semantic Family — Characters sharing the 艹 (grass) component

英yīng落luò苦kǔ药yào莱lái苏sū范fàn藏zàng草cǎo艺yì

Related Characters

蒸zhēng草cǎo花huā茶chá菜cài药yào苦kǔ落luò蓝lán节jié

Homophones — Characters pronounced wěi

伟wěi纬wěi玮wěi炜wěi

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 苇 (wěi) mean in Chinese?
苇 (wěi) primarily means "reed." It is not part of the HSK 3.0 syllabus. It ranks #4114 in character frequency.
What's the difference between 苇 and 讳?
苇 (wěi) and 讳 (huì) are often confused. confusable. The key distinguishing feature: 艹 vs 讠 (same 韦 component).
How many strokes does 苇 have?
苇 is written with 7 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 苇?
The radical associated with 苇 is 艹 (grass). This radical appears in many characters related to grass.
What are the components of 苇?
苇 is composed of: 艹 (semantic), 韦 (phonetic). Its IDS decomposition is ⿱艹韦 with a top-bottom layout. Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.
What are common words containing 苇?
Common words with 苇 include: 芦苇 (lú wěi, "reed"); 东方大苇莺 (dōng fāng dà wěi yīng, "(bird species of China) oriental reed warbler (Acrocephalus orientalis)"); 远东苇莺 (yuǎn dōng wěi yīng, "(bird species of China) Manchurian reed warbler (Acrocephalus tangorum)"); 小苇鳽 (xiǎo wěi jiān, "(bird species of China) little bittern (Ixobrychus minutus)"); 大苇莺 (dà wěi yīng, "(bird species of China) great reed warbler (Acrocephalus arundinaceus)"). There are over 22 compound words containing this character.
What characters sound the same as 苇 (wěi)?
Several characters share the pronunciation wěi: 伟 (big), 纬 (latitude), 玮 ((reddish jade)), 炜 (glowing). Context and tones help distinguish between them in speech and writing.
Is 苇 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
No. The simplified form is 苇 and the traditional form is 葦.

Practice writing 苇 with real-time feedback

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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.