(zhū): vermilion, (bound form) cinnabar

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

Etymologically derived, the color of the sap 一 of some trees 木. Its radical form (tree) appears in many related characters such as (běn, (bound form) root), (, machine, opportunity), (tiáo, strip).

Native pronunciation

Definitions

  1. vermilion
  2. (bound form) cinnabar

Etymology & Origin

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

Words & Compounds

Common Compounds

WordPinyinMeaning
zhū lì ānJulian or Julien (name)
zhū nuòJuneau, capital of Alaska
zhū lì yèJuliet or Juliette (name)
zhū lì yàJulia (name)
zhū lì yàJulia (name)
zhū gǔ lìchocolate (loanword)
zhū dí yàJudea
zhū lì yàJulia (name)
zhū hóngvermilion
zhū shācinnabar
zhū zì qīngZhu Ziqing (1898-1948), poet and essayist
zhū lì yà níGiuliani (name)
zhū zǐMaster Zhu, another name for Zhu Xi 朱熹[Zhu1 Xi1]
mǎ zhū luóMajuro, capital of Marshall Islands
zhū róng jīcommon erroneous form of 朱鎔基|朱镕基, Zhu Rongji (1928-), PRC politician, premier 1998-2003
78
Total compounds
58
As first character
1
As last character
41
As middle character

appears in 78 compound words: 58 as the first character, 1 as the last, and 41 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 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.

qiāo
0.52312,720 co-occurrences
0.49211 co-occurrences
zhān
0.4412,184 co-occurrences
tāo
0.4361,302 co-occurrences
xuān
0.433792 co-occurrences
0.42514,952 co-occurrences
bǐng
0.4062,904 co-occurrences
zhào
0.4014,302 co-occurrences
zhōng
0.4009,462 co-occurrences
róng
0.3886,510 co-occurrences

Idioms & Chengyu (3)

jìn zhū jìn mòHSK 7+

one is judged by the company one keeps (idiom)

phrase
齿hào chǐ zhū chúnHSK 7+

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

phrase

Showing 2 of 3 idioms containing .

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

爷爷在门前种了一棵苗,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

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、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

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 78 compound words containing this character.
What characters sound the same as 朱 (zhū)?
Several characters share the pronunciation zhū: 珠 (bead), 猪 (hog), 竹 ((bound form) bamboo), 逐 (chase, one by one), 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 with real-time feedback

Trace stroke sequences, hear native 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.