朱 (zhū): vermilion, (bound form) cinnabar

朱 (zhū) is a Chinese character meaning “vermilion.” Classified as HSK Level 7-9 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of 一 (structural) and 木 (structural). It ranks #1119 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Etymologically derived, 朱 the color of the sap 一 of some trees 木. 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. vermilion
  2. (bound form) cinnabar

Etymology & Origin

朱

ideographicThe color of the sap 一 of some trees 木

Decomposition: ⿻一木 (layout: overlay)

Stroke Order

1
2
3
4
5
6

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

Words & Compounds

Common Compounds

WordPinyinMeaning
朱利安proper-nounzhū lì ānJulian or Julien (name)
朱诺proper-nounzhū nuòJuneau, capital of Alaska
朱丽叶proper-nounzhū lì yèJuliet or Juliette (name)
朱莉娅proper-nounzhū lì yàJulia (name)
朱丽亚zhū lì yàJulia (name)
朱古力nounzhū gǔ lìchocolate (loanword)
朱迪亚proper-nounzhū dí yàJudea
朱利娅zhū lì yàJulia (name)
朱红adjectivezhū hóngvermilion
朱砂nounzhū shācinnabar
朱自清zhū zì qīngZhu Ziqing (1898-1948), poet and essayist
朱利亚尼zhū lì yà níGiuliani (name)
朱子proper-nounzhū zǐMaster Zhu, another name for Zhu Xi 朱熹
马朱罗proper-nounmǎ zhū luóMajuro, capital of Marshall Islands
朱由校zhū yóu xiàopersonal name of fifteenth Ming emperor Tianqi 明天啟|明天启 (1605-1627), reigned 1620-1627
76
Total compounds
57
As first character
1
As last character
42
As middle character

朱 appears in 76 compound words: 57 as the first character, 1 as the last, and 42 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 朱 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.

雀què
0.4874,243 co-occurrences
瞻zhān
0.435728 co-occurrences
滔tāo
0.430434 co-occurrences
暄xuān
0.427264 co-occurrences
莉lì
0.4194,984 co-occurrences
秉bǐng
0.400968 co-occurrences
兆zhào
0.3951,434 co-occurrences
古gǔ
0.39422 co-occurrences
忠zhōng
0.3943,154 co-occurrences
荣róng
0.3822,170 co-occurrences

Idioms & Chengyu (3)

近朱近墨jìn zhū jìn mòHSK 7+

one is judged by the company one keeps (idiom)

phrase
皓齿朱唇hào chǐ zhū chúnHSK 7+

white teeth and vermilion lips (idiom); lovely young woman

phrase

Showing 2 of 3 idioms containing 朱.

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

爷爷在门前种了一棵朱苗,现在已经长得很高了。

yé yé zài mén qián zhǒng le yī kē zhū miáo , xiàn zài yǐ jīng cháng dé hěn gāo le .

Grandpa planted a red sapling by the door, and now it has grown very tall.

中国军网Feb 2026

我维和官兵完成朱巴到摩吉瑞地区的短途巡逻和武装护卫任务

wǒ wéi hé guān bīng wán chéng zhū bā dào mó jí ruì dì qū de duǎn tú xún luó hé wǔ zhuāng hù wèi rèn wù

Our peacekeeping officers and men completed short-distance patrols and armed escort missions in the Juba-Mogiri area

UdnnewsindexFeb 2026

朱雀三号 第2季再挑战火箭回收

zhū qiāo sān hào dì 2 jì zài tiāo zhàn huǒ jiàn huí shōu

Suzaku 3 Season 2 challenges rocket recovery

大紀元 | 大紀元新聞網Feb 2026

王传一挑战相声脱口秀 与朱德刚搭档登台倒数

wáng chuán yī tiāo zhàn xiāng shēng tuō kǒu xiù yǔ zhū dé gāng dā dàng dēng tái dǎo shǔ

Wang Chuanyi challenged the cross talk show and partnered with Zhu Degang on stage to count down

UdnnewsindexFeb 2026

【联副文讯】联副/舒国治、朱国珍对谈:饮食书写,情感记忆

lián fù wén xùn lián fù shū guó zhì , zhū guó zhēn duì tán : yǐn shí shū xiě , qíng gǎn jì yì

【Joint Deputy News】Joint Deputy/Shu Guozhi and Zhu Guozhen Dialogue: Diet Writing, Emotional Memory

百度新闻Feb 2026

金山朱泾喊你来赏梅,只要名字里有这个字,门票全...

jīn shān zhū 泾 hǎn nǐ lái shǎng méi , zhī yāo míng zì lǐ yǒu zhè gè zì , mén piào quán . . .

Jinshan Zhujing calls you to enjoy the plum blossoms, as long as there is this word in the name, the tickets are all...

Tatoeba

罗密欧和朱丽叶正在剧场上演。

Luómì'ōu hé Zhūlìyè zhèng zài jùchǎng shàngyǎn.

Romeo and Juliet is on at the theatre.

Tatoeba

朱巴是南苏丹的首都。

Zhūbā shì Nán Sūdān de shǒudū.

Juba is the capital of South Sudan.

Tatoeba

他不知道《罗密欧与朱丽叶》是莎士比亚写的。

Tā bù zhīdào 《 Luómì'ōuyǔ Zhūlìyè 》 shì Shāshìbǐyà xiě de.

He didn't know Shakespeare wrote Romeo and Juliet.

Tatoeba

我会向朱迪写封信。

Wǒ huì xiàng Zhūdí xiě fēng xìn.

I will write Judy a letter.

Character Family

Homophones — Characters pronounced zhū

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 朱 (zhū) mean in Chinese?
朱 (zhū) primarily means "vermilion." It is classified as HSK Level 7-9, making it an expert-level character. It ranks #1119 in character frequency.
How many strokes does 朱 have?
朱 is written with 6 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 朱?
The radical associated with 朱 is 木 (tree). This radical appears in many characters related to tree.
What are the components of 朱?
朱 is composed of: 一 (structural), 木 (structural). Its IDS decomposition is ⿻一木 with a overlay layout. Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.
What are common words containing 朱?
Common words with 朱 include: 朱利安 (zhū lì ān, "Julian or Julien (name)"); 朱诺 (zhū nuò, "Juneau, capital of Alaska"); 朱丽叶 (zhū lì yè, "Juliet or Juliette (name)"); 朱莉娅 (zhū lì yà, "Julia (name)"); 朱丽亚 (zhū lì yà, "Julia (name)"). There are over 76 compound words containing this character.
What characters sound the same as 朱 (zhū)?
Several characters share the pronunciation zhū: 主 (owner), 住 (to live, to stay), 注 ((bound form) to pour into), 助 (to help), and 6 more. Context and tones help distinguish between them in speech and writing.
Is 朱 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Yes, 朱 is written the same way in both simplified and traditional Chinese.

Practice writing 朱 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.