帚 (zhǒu) is a Chinese character meaning “broom”. It is written from 彐 (snout radical; a three-stroke block closed on the right) and 冖 (cover) and 巾 (cloth), and takes 8 strokes.
Build the character for “broom”
Four steps: break it apart, build it, recall it, use it in a word.
StartLearn this character
Structure
彐 + 冖 + 巾
Top–middle–bottom structure
- 彐 snout radical; a three-stroke block closed on the right · jì meaning
- 冖 cover · mì meaning
- 巾 cloth · jīn meaning
Structure from: IDS ⿳彐冖巾 (Unicode 表意文字描述序列)，与 hanzi-writer-data 2.0.1 笔画数 3+2+3=8 核验一致
Memory aid
A hand-shaped block (彐) holds a cover (冖) down over a piece of cloth (巾). All three parts are really in this character — a bundle of cloth on a handle: a broom.
This is a memory aid, not the historical origin.
Stroke order
8 strokes
In real words
- 扫帚sào zhoubroom帚 = zhǒu
- 笤帚tiáo zhoubroom (made of bound straw or sorghum stalks)帚 = zhǒu
Go deeper
All readings
broom
broom; besom
扫地用的工具。 — studyhanzi 编写
Words with this reading
- 扫帚sào zhoubroom帚 = zhǒu
- 笤帚tiáo zhoubroom (made of bound straw or sorghum stalks)帚 = zhǒu
Stroke data: hanzi-writer-data (Arphic Public License) · licenses & attributions
Questions people ask about this character
What does 帚 mean?
帚 (zhǒu) means broom; besom.
How do you pronounce 帚?
It is pronounced zhǒu.
What parts is 帚 made of?
彐 (snout radical; a three-stroke block closed on the right) and 冖 (cover) and 巾 (cloth). The recorded source is: IDS ⿳彐冖巾 (Unicode 表意文字描述序列)，与 hanzi-writer-data 2.0.1 笔画数 3+2+3=8 核验一致. Components are the building blocks of the shape; the radical used for dictionary lookup is a separate thing.
How many strokes does 帚 have?
8. You can watch the stroke order on this page, or trace it yourself.
What is the radical of 帚?
巾. The radical is how the character is filed in a dictionary — it is not the whole story of how the character is built.
What words use 帚?
Common ones are 扫帚 and 笤帚. The reading of 帚 is not the same in every word, so each word on this page shows which reading applies.