柱 (zhù): pillar, column

柱 (zhù) is a Chinese character meaning “pillar, column.” Classified as HSK Level 7-9 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of 木 (semantic) and 主 (phonetic). It ranks #1677 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Etymologically derived, 柱 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. pillar, column

Etymology & Origin

柱

pictophonetictree

Decomposition: ⿰木主 (layout: left-right)

Stroke Order

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9

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

Words & Compounds

Common Compounds

WordPinyinMeaning
支柱nounzhī zhùmainstay
柱子nounzhù zipillar
脊柱nounjǐ zhùspinal column
灯柱noundēng zhùlamppost
冰柱nounbīng zhùicicle
门柱nounmén zhùdoorpost
中流砥柱phrasezhōng liú dǐ zhùmainstay
顶梁柱noundǐng liáng zhùpillar
圆柱nounyuán zhùcolumn
偷梁换柱phrasetōu liáng huàn zhùlit. to steal a rafter and replace it with a column
台柱nountái zhùpillar
光柱guāng zhùlight beam
石柱nounshí zhùstela
花柱huā zhùstyle (female organ of flower)
火柱huǒ zhùcolumn of flame
58
Total compounds
16
As first character
55
As last character
29
As middle character

柱 appears in 58 compound words: 16 as the first character, 55 as the last, and 29 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 柱 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.

沃wò
0.56910 co-occurrences
籍jí
0.56022 co-occurrences
圆yuán
0.5464,762 co-occurrences
棱léng
0.5281,198 co-occurrences
脊jǐ
0.5211,885 co-occurrences
撑chēng
0.5161,088 co-occurrences
凭píng
0.50310 co-occurrences
撼hàn
0.50111 co-occurrences
廊láng
0.4932,580 co-occurrences
檐yán
0.487932 co-occurrences

Idioms & Chengyu (3)

偷梁换柱tōuliánghuànzhùHSK 7+

to replace the original with a fake; to perpetrate a fraud

phrase
一柱擎天yī zhù qíng tiānHSK 7+

lit. to support the sky as a single pillar (idiom); fig. to take a crucial responsibility upon one's shoulders

phrase
中流砥柱zhōngliúdǐzhùHSK 7+

mainstay; cornerstone; chief support

phrase

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

这座古建筑的木柱已经有几百年的历史,但仍然非常坚固。

Zhè zuò gǔ jiànzhù de mùzhù yǐjīng yǒu jǐbǎi nián de lìshǐ, dàn réngrán fēicháng jiāngù.

The wooden pillars of this ancient building have a history of several hundred years but are still very sturdy.

Nownews今日新聞Feb 2026

樂天女孩拼了!傳升級韓籍啦啦隊6本柱 規模稱霸聯盟劍指天花板

樂 tiān nǚ hái pīn le ! 傳 shēng 級 韓 jí lā lā 隊 běn zhù 規 mó 稱 bà 聯 méng 劍 zhǐ tiān huā bǎn

Lotte Girls Go All Out! Rumored to Upgrade Korean Cheer Squad with Six Key Members, Aiming for League Supremacy and the Top Spot

三立新聞網Feb 2026

韓籍「六本柱」成形!樂天女孩補齊6外援

韓 jí liù běn zhù chéng xíng ! 樂 tiān nǚ hái 補 齊 wài yuán

The Korean "Six Pillars" lineup is complete! Rakuten Girls fill out their six foreign player roster.

EttodayFeb 2026

樂天女孩拋震撼彈!韓籍「六本柱」成形 一次補齊6外援衝回天花板

樂 tiān nǚ hái 拋 zhèn hàn 彈 ! 韓 jí liù běn zhù chéng xíng yī cì 補 齊 wài yuán 衝 huí tiān huā bǎn

Lotte Girls Drop a Bombshell! Korean "Six Pillars" Lineup Takes Shape, Filling Six Foreign Player Slots at Once to Surge Back to the Top

東森新聞Feb 2026

樂天女孩拚了!韓籍「六本柱」成形 一次衝回天花板

樂 tiān nǚ hái 拚 le ! 韓 jí liù běn zhù chéng xíng yī cì 衝 huí tiān huā bǎn

Rakuten Girls Give It Their All! Korean "Six Pillars" Take Shape, Surge Back to the Top

StheadlineFeb 2026

赤柱Tesla自炒撼欄 車頭剷上行人路幸無傷

chì zhù zì chǎo hàn 欄 車 頭 剷 shàng háng rén lù xìng 無 傷

Stanley Tesla's car crashes into pavement, no injuries

Tatoeba

巨大的柱子遮住了视线,让人看不到湖。

Jùdà de zhùzi zhēzhù le shìxiàn, ràng rén kàn bù dào hú.

A large pillar obstructs the view of the lake.

Tatoeba

他的头撞到了一根柱子。

Tā de tóu zhuàng dào le yī gēn zhùzi.

He bumped his head against a post.

Tatoeba

她心不在焉的把车子撞在了柱子上。

Tā xīnbùzàiyān de bǎ chēzi zhuàng zài le zhùzi shàng.

By lack of attention, she hit the post with her car.

Character Family

Semantic Family — Characters sharing the 木 (tree) component

Homophones — Characters pronounced zhù

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 柱 (zhù) mean in Chinese?
柱 (zhù) primarily means "pillar, column." It is classified as HSK Level 7-9, making it an expert-level character. It ranks #1677 in character frequency.
How many strokes does 柱 have?
柱 is written with 9 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 柱?
The radical associated with 柱 is 木 (tree). This radical appears in many characters related to tree.
What are the components of 柱?
柱 is composed of: 木 (semantic), 主 (phonetic). Its IDS decomposition is ⿰木主 with a left-right layout. Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.
What are common words containing 柱?
Common words with 柱 include: 支柱 (zhī zhù, "mainstay"); 柱子 (zhù zi, "pillar"); 脊柱 (jǐ zhù, "spinal column"); 灯柱 (dēng zhù, "lamppost"); 冰柱 (bīng zhù, "icicle"). There are over 58 compound words containing this character.
What characters sound the same as 柱 (zhù)?
Several characters share the pronunciation zhù: 注 ((bound form) to pour into), 驻 (station), 蛀 (termite), 主 (owner), and 5 more. Context and tones help distinguish between them in speech and writing.
Is 柱 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Yes, 柱 is written the same way in both simplified and traditional Chinese.

Practice writing 柱 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.