竺 (zhú): surname Zhu, (archaic) Buddhism

竺 (zhú) is a Chinese character meaning “(archaic) buddhism.” Outside the HSK 3.0 syllabus (CLEC 2022), it is composed of ⺮ (structural) and 二 (structural). It ranks #3586 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Etymologically derived, 竺 a kind 二 of bamboo ⺮; ⺮ also provides the pronunciation. Its radical form 竹 (bamboo) appears in many related characters such as 第 (dì, (prefix indicating ordinal number, as in 第六 "sixth")), 等 (děng, to wait for), 笑 (xiào, to laugh).

Spoken pronunciation
Radical: 竹 bamboo8 strokesFrequency #3586⺮ structural二 structural

Definitions

  1. surname Zhu
  2. (archaic) Buddhism

Etymology & Origin

竺

ideographicA kind 二 of bamboo ⺮; ⺮ also provides the pronunciation

Decomposition: ⿱⺮二 (layout: top-bottom)

Components:⺮structural二structural

Stroke Order

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8

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

Words & Compounds

Common Compounds

WordPinyinMeaning
天竺proper-nountiān zhúthe Indian subcontinent (esp. in Tang or Buddhist context)
天竺鼠nountiān zhú shǔguinea pig
天竺葵tiān zhú kuígeranium (Pelargonium hortorum)
竺法zhú fǎDharma (the teachings of the Buddha, archaic)
竺学zhú xuéBuddhist doctrine (archaic)
竺教zhú jiàoBuddhism (archaic)
竺书zhú shūBuddhist texts (archaic)
天竺牡丹nountiān zhú mǔ dandahlia
竺可桢zhú kě zhēnZhu Kezhen (1890-1974), Chinese metereologist and geologist
竺乾proper-nounzhú qiánBuddha (archaic)
10
Total compounds
60
As first character
10
As last character
30
As middle character

竺 appears in 10 compound words: 60 as the first character, 10 as the last, and 30 in a middle position. Compound statistics computed from SUBTLEX-CH and HSK 3.0 vocabulary data.

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

竺字虽然难写，但意思很有趣。

dǔ zì suī rán nán xiě , dàn yì sī hěn yǒu qù .

Although the character "Zhu" is difficult to write, its meaning is quite interesting.

Character Family

竹 Radical Family — Characters sharing the bamboo radical

第dì等děng管guǎn笑xiào简jiǎn策cè签qiān筑zhù篷péng竿gān

Related Characters

第dì等děng笑xiào简jiǎn管guǎn策cè签qiān筑zhù竿gān篷péng

Homophones — Characters pronounced zhú

主zhǔ住zhù注zhù助zhù著zhù逐zhú诸zhū筑zhù珠zhū朱zhū

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 竺 (zhú) mean in Chinese?
竺 (zhú) primarily means "(archaic) buddhism." It is not part of the HSK 3.0 syllabus. It ranks #3586 in character frequency.
How many strokes does 竺 have?
竺 is written with 8 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 竺?
The radical associated with 竺 is 竹 (bamboo). This radical appears in many characters related to bamboo.
What are the components of 竺?
竺 is composed of: ⺮ (structural), 二 (structural). Its IDS decomposition is ⿱⺮二 with a top-bottom layout. Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.
What are common words containing 竺?
Common words with 竺 include: 天竺 (tiān zhú, "the Indian subcontinent (esp. in Tang or Buddhist context)"); 天竺鼠 (tiān zhú shǔ, "guinea pig"); 天竺葵 (tiān zhú kuí, "geranium (Pelargonium hortorum)"); 竺法 (zhú fǎ, "Dharma (the teachings of the Buddha, archaic)"); 竺学 (zhú xué, "Buddhist doctrine (archaic)"). There are over 10 compound words containing this character.
What characters sound the same as 竺 (zhú)?
Several characters share the pronunciation zhú: 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 竺 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Yes, 竺 is written the same way in both simplified and traditional Chinese.

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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.