著 (zhù) is a Chinese character meaning “prominent”. It is written from 艹 (grass / plant radical) and 者 ("the one who"; a person or thing (as a suffix)), one above the other, and takes 11 strokes.
Build the character for “famous; notable”
Four steps: break it apart, build it, recall it, use it in a word.
StartLearn this character
Structure
艹 + 者
Top–bottom structure
- 艹 grass / plant radical · cǎo unknown
- 者 "the one who"; a person or thing (as a suffix) · zhě unknown
Structure from: modern-form decomposition (IDS ⿱艹者, verified against hanzi-writer-data stroke groups 3+8=11)
Memory aid
Grass (艹) spreading over "the one who" (者): someone whose name has spread everywhere like grass — famous, as in 著名.
This is a memory aid, not the historical origin.
Stroke order
11 strokes
In real words
- 著名zhù míngfamous; well-known著 = zhù
- 显著xiǎn zhùnotable; remarkable; marked著 = zhù
Go deeper
All readings
notable; to write
prominent; notable; to write (a book); a literary work
显明，突出；写作；也指写成的作品。 — studyhanzi 编写
Words with this reading
- 著名zhù míngfamous; well-known著 = zhù
- 显著xiǎn zhùnotable; remarkable; marked著 = zhù
Easy to confuse with
Stroke data: hanzi-writer-data (Arphic Public License) · licenses & attributions
Questions people ask about this character
What does 著 mean?
著 (zhù) means prominent; notable; to write (a book); a literary work.
How do you pronounce 著?
It is pronounced zhù.
What parts is 著 made of?
艹 (grass / plant radical) and 者 ("the one who"; a person or thing (as a suffix)), one above the other. The recorded source is: modern-form decomposition (IDS ⿱艹者, verified against hanzi-writer-data stroke groups 3+8=11). Components are the building blocks of the shape; the radical used for dictionary lookup is a separate thing.
How many strokes does 著 have?
11. You can watch the stroke order on this page, or trace it yourself.
What is the radical of 著?
艸. 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 著?
Common ones are 著名 and 显著. The reading of 著 is not the same in every word, so each word on this page shows which reading applies.