葛 (gé) is a Chinese character meaning “kudzu (a climbing vine plant)”. It is written from 艹 (grass / plant radical) and 曷 (hé — a classical word meaning "why / when"; in 揭 it is the sound component), one above the other, and takes 12 strokes.
Build the character for “kudzu vine”
Four steps: break it apart, build it, recall it, use it in a word.
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Structure
艹 + 曷
Top–bottom structure
- 艹 grass / plant radical · cǎo meaning
- 曷 hé — a classical word meaning "why / when"; in 揭 it is the sound component · hé sound
Structure from: makemeahanzi decomposition ⿱艹曷 (pictophonetic: semantic 艹, phonetic 曷); cjkvi-ids ⿱艹曷[GTK]; 说文解字: 葛，絺绤草也。从艸曷声
Memory aid
A plant (艹) on top of 曷 — an old question word, "why? where?". Picture a vine that keeps asking "where next?" as it creeps over everything: that is 葛, the kudzu vine.
This is a memory aid, not the historical origin.
Stroke order
12 strokes
In real words
- 瓜葛guā géconnection; involvement (with someone or something)葛 = gé
- 纠葛jiū géentanglement; dispute葛 = gé
Go deeper
All readings
kudzu vine
kudzu (a climbing vine plant); in words: entanglement, connection
一种多年生藤本植物（葛藤），根可入药、茎皮纤维可织布；也用于「瓜葛」「纠葛」，比喻牵连、纠缠。 — studyhanzi 编写
Words with this reading
- 瓜葛guā géconnection; involvement (with someone or something)葛 = gé
- 纠葛jiū géentanglement; dispute葛 = gé
Sound component
曷 family onset shift
Stroke data: hanzi-writer-data (Arphic Public License) · licenses & attributions
Questions people ask about this character
What does 葛 mean?
葛 (gé) means kudzu (a climbing vine plant); in words: entanglement, connection.
How do you pronounce 葛?
It is pronounced gé.
What parts is 葛 made of?
艹 (grass / plant radical) and 曷 (hé — a classical word meaning "why / when"; in 揭 it is the sound component), one above the other. The recorded source is: makemeahanzi decomposition ⿱艹曷 (pictophonetic: semantic 艹, phonetic 曷); cjkvi-ids ⿱艹曷[GTK]; 说文解字: 葛，絺绤草也。从艸曷声. Components are the building blocks of the shape; the radical used for dictionary lookup is a separate thing.
How many strokes does 葛 have?
12. You can watch the stroke order on this page, or trace it yourself.
What is the radical of 葛?
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 葛?
Common ones are 瓜葛 and 纠葛. The reading of 葛 is not the same in every word, so each word on this page shows which reading applies.