丛 (cóng): thicket

Meanings

1 thicket
2 cluster
3 clump
4 collection (of books)

Characters

丛

cóng

cluster / thicket / collection

Examples

HSK 7-9

他藏在树丛里，一动不动。

Tā cáng zài shùcóng lǐ, yīdòngbùdòng.

He hid in the thicket without moving.

HSK 7-9

花园里种了好几丛玫瑰。

Huāyuánlǐ zhòng le hǎojǐ cóng méigui.

Several clumps of roses were planted in the garden.

Tips

usage

丛 functions both as a noun (a cluster/thicket: 丛林, jungle) and as a measure word for clumps of plants: 一丛花 (a clump of flowers), 一丛草 (a clump of grass). As a suffix it forms compound nouns: 丛书 (series of books), 丛林 (jungle/thicket).

Components

radical

一 yī

one; ground line

Bottom 一 is the one-stroke radical, here functioning as a ground line - the earth on which the two figures stand. It’s the indexing radical of 丛 by Kangxi convention. Visually it makes a tidy compound ideograph: 'people gathered on the ground,' giving the modern meaning of cluster, thicket, crowd.

phonetic

从 cóng

to follow; from

Top 从 is two 人 figures in single file, originally 'one following another.' Supplies the sound - cóng straight through - and a faint semantic hint of plurality or clustering: a group walking close together. Same phonetic and image family: 丛 itself, 纵 vertical, 怂 to incite.