芦 (lú): reed

Meanings

1 reed
2 rush
3 Phragmites (reed plant)
4 (also a Chinese surname)

Characters

芦

lú

reed

Examples

湖边长满了芦苇。

Húbiān zhǎngmǎn le lúwěi.

The lakeside was thick with reeds.

他姓芦，是我的同事。

Tā xìng Lú, shì wǒ de tóngshì.

His surname is Lu; he's my colleague.

Tips

usage

芦 rarely stands alone. Common compounds: 芦苇 (lúwěi, reeds), 芦笋 (lúsǔn, asparagus), 芦荟 (lúhuì, aloe vera), 芦花 (lúhuā, reed catkin), 葫芦 (húlu, gourd — note the neutral tone shift).

memory

The grass radical 艹 over 户 (door) — picture reeds growing tall enough to form a doorway / curtain at a marsh's edge. (Phonetic component is actually 户 hù, but the image works as a memory hook.)

Components

radical

艹 cǎo

grass; plant (top radical)

Top grass radical — the indexing component. Marks 芦 as botanical: reed, rush, or gourd. The simplified form replaces the much busier traditional 蘆 with a streamlined 户 underneath, but the 艹 cap is preserved so you can still read it as a plant at a glance.

phonetic

户 hù

door; household (here phonetic)

Bottom 户 supplies the sound for the simplified form: hù drifting to lú is loose but the link runs through the traditional phonetic 盧 lú, which 户 stands in for after the 1956 reform. Don't read 'door' into the meaning — pure phonetic shortcut chosen for stroke economy.