杨 (yáng) is a Chinese character meaning “poplar (tree)”. It is written from 木 (tree; wood) and 𠃓 (reduced form of 昜, the phonetic side of 场 / 扬 / 汤), side by side, and takes 7 strokes.
Build the character for “poplar tree”
Four steps: break it apart, build it, recall it, use it in a word.
StartLearn this character
Structure
木 + 𠃓
Left–right structure
Structure from: modern glyph decomposition verified against hanzi-writer-data stroke geometry (strokes 1-4 = 木, strokes 5-7 = 𠃓); radical from Unicode Unihan; 说文解字 lists the traditional form 楊 as 从木昜聲
Memory aid
A tree (木) standing next to 𠃓, the sound-side that says yáng — the tree whose name you can hear: poplar.
This is a memory aid, not the historical origin.
Stroke order
7 strokes
In real words
- 白杨bái yángwhite poplar杨 = yáng
- 杨柳yáng liǔwillow; willows (poplars and willows)杨 = yáng
- 杨梅yáng méiChinese bayberry; waxberry杨 = yáng
Go deeper
All readings
poplar
poplar (tree); also a very common Chinese surname
杨树，落叶乔木，木材可用。也是常见姓氏。 — studyhanzi 编写
Words with this reading
- 白杨bái yángwhite poplar杨 = yáng
- 杨柳yáng liǔwillow; willows (poplars and willows)杨 = yáng
- 杨梅yáng méiChinese bayberry; waxberry杨 = yáng
Sound component
昜 family exact
Stroke data: hanzi-writer-data (Arphic Public License) · licenses & attributions
Questions people ask about this character
What does 杨 mean?
杨 (yáng) means poplar (tree); also a very common Chinese surname.
How do you pronounce 杨?
It is pronounced yáng.
What parts is 杨 made of?
木 (tree; wood) and 𠃓 (reduced form of 昜, the phonetic side of 场 / 扬 / 汤), side by side. The recorded source is: modern glyph decomposition verified against hanzi-writer-data stroke geometry (strokes 1-4 = 木, strokes 5-7 = 𠃓); radical from Unicode Unihan; 说文解字 lists the traditional form 楊 as 从木昜聲. Components are the building blocks of the shape; the radical used for dictionary lookup is a separate thing.
How many strokes does 杨 have?
7. You can watch the stroke order on this page, or trace it yourself.
What is the radical of 杨?
木. 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 杨?
Common ones are 白杨. The reading of 杨 is not the same in every word, so each word on this page shows which reading applies.