葬 (zàng) is a Chinese character meaning “to bury”. It is written from 艹 (grass / plant radical) and 死 (to die; death) and 廾 (two hands raised together), and takes 12 strokes.
Build the character for “to bury”
Four steps: break it apart, build it, recall it, use it in a word.
StartLearn this character
Structure
艹 + 死 + 廾
Top–middle–bottom structure
- 艹 grass / plant radical · cǎo meaning
- 死 to die; death · sǐ meaning
- 廾 two hands raised together · gǒng unknown
Structure from: 说文解字: 葬，臧也。从死在茻中；一其中，所以荐之。(modern form ⿳艹死廾 per IDS, checked against hanzi-writer-data strokes)
Memory aid
Grass (艹) on top, the dead (死) in the middle, and a base (廾) holding it all from below: the dead are laid under the grass — to bury.
This is a memory aid, not the historical origin.
Stroke order
12 strokes
In real words
- 葬礼zàng lǐfuneral葬 = zàng
- 埋葬mái zàngto bury葬 = zàng
Go deeper
All readings
to bury
to bury; to inter; burial; funeral
掩埋或安置死者的遗体。 — studyhanzi 编写
Words with this reading
- 葬礼zàng lǐfuneral葬 = zàng
- 埋葬mái zàngto bury葬 = zàng
Stroke data: hanzi-writer-data (Arphic Public License) · licenses & attributions
Questions people ask about this character
What does 葬 mean?
葬 (zàng) means to bury; to inter; burial; funeral.
How do you pronounce 葬?
It is pronounced zàng.
What parts is 葬 made of?
艹 (grass / plant radical) and 死 (to die; death) and 廾 (two hands raised together). The recorded source is: 说文解字: 葬，臧也。从死在茻中；一其中，所以荐之。(modern form ⿳艹死廾 per IDS, checked against hanzi-writer-data strokes). Components are the building blocks of the shape; the radical used for dictionary lookup is a separate thing.
How many strokes does 葬 have?
12. You can watch the stroke order on this page, or trace it yourself.
What is the radical of 葬?
艹. 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 葬?
Common ones are 葬礼 and 埋葬. The reading of 葬 is not the same in every word, so each word on this page shows which reading applies.