(zhū): bead, pearl, CL:粒,顆|颗

(zhū) is a Chinese character meaning “bead.” Classified as HSK Level 6 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of (semantic) and (phonetic). It ranks #1278 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Etymologically derived, jade. Its radical form (jade) appears in many related characters such as (wán, to play), (xiàn, to appear), (bān, team).

Native pronunciation

Definitions

  1. bead
  2. pearl
  3. CL:粒,顆|颗

Etymology & Origin

pictophoneticjade

Decomposition: ⿰王朱 (layout: left-right)

Stroke Order

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10

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

Words & Compounds

HSK Vocabulary with

WordPinyinMeaningHSK
nounzhū bǎopearls6
nounzhēn zhūpearl (,粒[li4])6

Common Compounds

WordPinyinMeaning
zhū zipearl
yǎn zhūone's eyes
hǎi zhūsee 海珠區|海珠区[Hai3 zhu1 Qu1]
zhēn zhū gǎngPearl Harbor (Hawaii)
yuán zhū bǐballpoint pen
niàn zhūprayer beads
zhǎng shàng míng zhūlit. a pearl in the palm (idiom)
hàn zhūbeads of sweat
míng zhūpearl
lù zhūdewdrop
gǔn zhūbearing ball
zhū guāng bǎo qìbedecked with glittering jewels (idiom)
zhū fēngMount Everest (abbr. for 珠穆朗瑪峰|珠穆朗玛峰[Zhu1 mu4 lang3 ma3 Feng1])
miào yǔ lián zhūsparkling with wit (idiom)
lèi zhūteardrop
100
Total compounds
29
As first character
46
As last character
25
As middle character

appears in 100 compound words: 29 as the first character, 46 as the last, and 25 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.

zhēn
0.62643,794 co-occurrences
bǎo
0.49015,056 co-occurrences
míng
0.48066,654 co-occurrences
cuì
0.4767,470 co-occurrences
hǎi
0.46567,764 co-occurrences
lián
0.458726 co-occurrences
jiāng
0.42825,434 co-occurrences
ào
0.42713,164 co-occurrences
pēi
0.4251,194 co-occurrences
tái
0.41343,194 co-occurrences

Idioms & Chengyu (20)

bù lìn zhū yùHSK 7+

(idiom) (courteous) please give me your frank opinion; your criticism will be most valuable

phrase
cānghǎiyízhūHSK 7+

a person with talent or something valuable, but is neglected by the society

phrase
gǔn zhū zhóu chéngHSK 7+

ball bearing

phrase
miàoyǔliánzhūHSK 6+

witticism upon witticism

phrase
miào yǔ rú zhūHSK 6+

sparkling with wit (idiom)

phrase
míngzhū'àntóuHSK 6+

the talented are neglected; something valuable is not recognized

phrase
pōu fù cáng zhūHSK 7+

lit. cutting one's stomach to hide a pearl (idiom); fig. wasting a lot of effort on trivialities

phrase
rén lǎo zhū huángHSK 6+

(of a woman) old and faded

phrase
yǒuyǎnwúzhūHSK 6+

lacking the ability to see or discern; to have a narrow vision; ignorant

phrase
yúmùhùnzhūHSK 6+

to pass off fake products as genuine

phrase
zhǎngshàngmíngzhūHSK 6+

apple of someone's eye; (especially) beloved daughter

phrase
zhūguāngbǎoqìHSK 6+

dripping with jewels; luxurious; splendid; gorgeous

phrase

Showing 12 of 20 idioms containing .

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

写好字需要掌握正确的笔画顺序。

xiě hǎo zhū zì xū yāo zhǎng wò zhēng què de bǐ huà shùn xù .

To write the character "珠" correctly, one must master the proper stroke order.

StheadlineFeb 2026

牛池湾彩辉邨单位遭爆窃 失3只劳力士及宝现金 总值85万元

niú chí wān cǎi huī 邨 dān wèi zāo bào qiè shī 3 zhī láo lì shì jí zhū bǎo xiàn jīn zǒng zhí 8 5 wàn yuán

A unit in Choi Fai Estate, Ngau Chi Wan, was burglarized, and 3 Rolexes and jewelry were lost in cash with a total value of $850,000

東森新聞Feb 2026

.../啦啦队战火再升级!朴星垠传加盟富邦携李

. . . lā lā duì zhàn huǒ zài shēng jí ! pǔ xīng 垠 chuán jiā méng fù bāng xié lǐ zhū 珢

.../The cheerleading war escalates again! Park Xingyin is rumored to join Fubon with Li Zhujun

StheadlineFeb 2026

...裤时代”爆红—全网疯玩“热狗肠包X” 珍虾滑杨枝甘露乜都塞

. . . kù shí dài bào hóng — quán wǎng fēng wán rè gǒu cháng bāo X zhēn zhū xiā huá yáng zhī gān lù 乜 dōu sāi

... Pants era "popular" - the whole network is crazy to play "hot dog sausage bun X" pearl shrimp slippery poplar branch nectar is stuffed with everything

東方日報Feb 2026

出入海港车量 单日新高1.54万辆

chū rù zhū hǎi gǎng chē liàng dān rì xīn gāo 1 . 5 4 wàn liàng

The number of vehicles entering and leaving Zhuhai Port reached a new high of 15,400 vehicles in a single day

大紀元 | 大紀元新聞網Feb 2026

从六星连回看“七星连”久传不衰的影响力

cóng liù xīng lián zhū huí kàn qī xīng lián zhū jiǔ chuán bù shuāi de yǐng xiǎng lì

Looking back at the long-standing influence of the "Seven Star Couplet" from the six-star lineup

Tatoeba

穆朗玛峰有多高?

Zhūmùlǎngmǎ Fēng yǒu duō gāo?

How high is Mount Everest?

Tatoeba

最先登上穆朗玛峰的人是谁?

Zuì xiān dēngshàng Zhūmùlǎngmǎ Fēng de rén shì shéi?

Who first reached the summit of Mt. Everest?

Tatoeba

你能用圆笔写吗?

Nǐ néng yòng yuánzhūbǐ xiě ma?

Would you please write with a ballpoint pen?

Tatoeba

我的原笔没墨了。

Wǒ de yuán zhū bǐ méi mò le.

My ballpoint pen just ran out of ink.

Character Family

Homophones — Characters pronounced zhū

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 珠 (zhū) mean in Chinese?
珠 (zhū) primarily means "bead." It is classified as HSK Level 6, making it an advanced character. It ranks #1278 in character frequency.
What's the difference between 珠 and 殊?
珠 (zhū) and 殊 (shū) are often confused. confusable. The key distinguishing feature: 王 vs 歹 (same 朱 component).
How many strokes does 珠 have?
珠 is written with 10 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 珠?
The radical associated with 珠 is 王 (jade). This radical appears in many characters related to jade.
What are the components of 珠?
珠 is composed of: 王 (semantic), 朱 (phonetic). Its IDS decomposition is ⿰王朱 with a left-right layout. Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.
What are common words containing 珠?
Common words with 珠 include: 珠宝 (zhū bǎo, "pearls"); 珍珠 (zhēn zhū, "pearl (,粒[li4])"); 珠子 (zhū zi, "pearl"); 眼珠 (yǎn zhū, "one's eyes"); 海珠 (hǎi zhū, "see 海珠區|海珠区[Hai3 zhu1 Qu1]"). There are over 100 compound words containing this character.
What characters sound the same as 珠 (zhū)?
Several characters share the pronunciation zhū: 株 (tree trunk), 蛛 (spider (in 蜘蛛)), 猪 (hog), 竹 ((bound form) bamboo), and 5 more. Context and tones help distinguish between them in speech and writing.
Is 珠 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Yes, 珠 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.