植 (zhí): to plant

植 (zhí) is a Chinese character meaning “to plant.” Classified as HSK Level 4 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of 木 (semantic) and 直 (phonetic). It ranks #1122 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Etymologically derived, 植 tree. 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. to plant

Etymology & Origin

植

pictophonetictree

Decomposition: ⿰木直 (layout: left-right)

Stroke Order

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

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

Words & Compounds

HSK Vocabulary with 植

WordPinyinMeaningHSK
植物nounzhí wùplant4
种植verbzhòng zhíto plant5

Common Compounds

WordPinyinMeaning
移植verbyí zhíto transplant
植入verbzhí rùto implant
植物人nounzhí wù rénperson in a vegetative state
种植园nounzhòng zhí yuánplantation
植物园nounzhí wù yuánbotanical garden
植物油nounzhí wù yóuvegetable oil
植物学nounzhí wù xuébotany
植被nounzhí bèivegetation
培植verbpéi zhíto cultivate
动植物noundòng zhí wùplants and animals
植树verbzhí shùto plant trees
植皮nounzhí píto graft skin
扶植verbfú zhíto foster
植株nounzhí zhū(agriculture) plant
草本植物nouncǎo běn zhí wùherbaceous plant
76
Total compounds
41
As first character
16
As last character
43
As middle character

植 appears in 76 compound words: 41 as the first character, 16 as the last, and 43 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 植 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.

物wù
0.593154,147 co-occurrences
移yí
0.52619,065 co-occurrences
种zhǒng
0.51927,034 co-occurrences
肢zhī
0.50012 co-occurrences
株zhū
0.4954,827 co-occurrences
厚hòu
0.48614 co-occurrences
扶fú
0.4823,352 co-occurrences
栽zāi
0.4742,178 co-occurrences
园yuán
0.4628,106 co-occurrences
虫chóng
0.4211,486 co-occurrences

Idioms & Chengyu (12)

被子植物bèizǐzhíwùHSK 4+

angiosperm

noun
草本植物cǎoběn zhíwùHSK 4+

herbaceous plant

noun
常绿植物cháng lǜ zhí wùHSK 4+

evergreen plant

phrase
骨髓移植gǔsuǐ yízhíHSK 7+

bone marrow transplantation

noun
裸子植物luǒzǐzhíwùHSK 7+

gymnosperm

noun
蔓生植物màn shēng zhí wùHSK 7+

creeper; climbing plant; twiner

phrase
木本植物mùběn zhíwùHSK 5+

woody plant

noun
食虫植物shí chóng zhí wùHSK 5+

insectivorous plant

phrase
藤本植物téng běn zhí wùHSK 7+

vine plant

phrase
显花植物xiǎn huā zhí wùHSK 5+

Phanerogamae (botany); flowering plants

phrase
植物学家zhíwùxuéjiāHSK 4+

botanist

noun

Showing 11 of 12 idioms containing 植.

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

学校组织学生参加植树活动,培养他们的环保意识。

Xuéxiào zǔzhī xuéshēng cānjiā zhíshù huódòng, péiyǎng tāmen de huánbǎo yìshi.

The school organized students to participate in tree planting activities to cultivate their environmental awareness.

UdnnewsindexFeb 2026

...咪“小五郎”前肢伤口深难痊愈 专业兽医移植皮肤手术终康复

. . . 咪 xiǎo wǔ láng qián zhī shāng kǒu shēn nán 痊 yù zhuān yè shòu yī yí zhí pí fū shǒu shù zhōng kāng fù

... Mi "Xiaogolang" forelimb wound is deep and difficult to heal, and a professional veterinarian has finally recovered from skin transplant surgery

It之家Feb 2026

...人口感染的 EB 病毒取得关键突破,为移植患者带来新希望

. . . rén kǒu gǎn rǎn de bìng dú qǔ dé guān jiàn tū pò , wéi yí zhí huàn zhě dài lái xīn xī wàng

... Key Breakthrough in Population-Borne EBV Virus Brings New Hope for Transplant Patients

公視新聞網 PnnFeb 2026

河川地生長香氛植物「石薺薴」 花蓮光復鄉民嘗試復育

hé chuān dì shēng 長 xiāng fēn zhí wù shí 薺 薴 huā 蓮 guāng 復 鄉 mín 嘗 試 復 yù

The Fragrance Plant "Shi Qi Chai" Grows in the Riverland Hualien Guanghuei Villagers Tried to Restore it

三立新聞網Feb 2026

移植心臟運送遭乾冰凍壞 男童苦撐2月亡

yí zhí xīn 臟 運 sòng zāo 乾 bīng 凍 壞 nán tóng kǔ 撐 yuè wáng

Transplanted heart delivery damaged by dry ice, boy died in 2 months of suffering

百度新闻Feb 2026

预见金马|财通证券资管马晓立:厚植金融为民底色,以..

yù jiàn jīn mǎ cái tōng zhèng quàn zī guǎn mǎ xiǎo lì hòu zhí jīn róng wéi mín de sè , yǐ . .

Forecasting the Golden Horse | Caitong Securities Asset Management's Ma Xiaoli: Deepening the Foundation of Finance for the People, With...

Tatoeba

西洋常春藤是攀缘藤本植物。

Xīyáng chángchūnténg shì pān yuán téngběnzhíwù.

English ivy is a climbing vine.

Tatoeba

有些植物无法适应寒冷。

Yǒuxiē zhíwù wúfǎ shìyìng hánlěng.

Some plants cannot adapt themselves to the cold.

Tatoeba

您吃早餐前给植物浇水。

Nín chī zǎocān qián gěi zhíwù jiāoshuǐ.

Water the plants before eating breakfast.

Tatoeba

从根部把植物拔出来。

Cóng gēn bù bǎ zhíwù bá chūlái.

Pull the plant up by the roots.

Character Family

Semantic Family — Characters sharing the 木 (tree) component

Homophones — Characters pronounced zhí

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 植 (zhí) mean in Chinese?
植 (zhí) primarily means "to plant." It is classified as HSK Level 4, making it an upper-intermediate character. It ranks #1122 in character frequency.
How many strokes does 植 have?
植 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 植?
The radical associated with 植 is 木 (tree). This radical appears in many characters related to tree.
What are the components of 植?
植 is composed of: 木 (semantic), 直 (phonetic). Its IDS decomposition is ⿰木直 with a left-right layout. Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.
What are common words containing 植?
Common words with 植 include: 移植 (yí zhí, "to transplant"); 植物 (zhí wù, "plant"); 植入 (zhí rù, "to implant"); 种植 (zhòng zhí, "to plant"); 植物人 (zhí wù rén, "person in a vegetative state"). There are over 76 compound words containing this character.
What characters sound the same as 植 (zhí)?
Several characters share the pronunciation zhí: 值 (value, be worth), 殖 (to grow), 只 (classifier for birds and certain animals, one of a pair, some utensils, vessels etc), 知 (to know), and 5 more. Context and tones help distinguish between them in speech and writing.
Is 植 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Yes, 植 is written the same way in both simplified and traditional Chinese.

Practice writing 植 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.