verb / noun HSK 5
to plant · to grow · vegetation
Meaning
植 primarily means 'to plant' or 'to cultivate plants.' As a noun, it refers to plants or vegetation in general. It's a formal, literary character often seen in compound words related to plants, forestry, and agriculture.
Usage
植 is rarely used alone in modern spoken Chinese. It appears mainly in formal compound words like 植物 (plants), 植树 (to plant trees), and 种植 (to cultivate). In everyday speech, people typically use the full compounds rather than 植 by itself.
Examples
- 01我们每年春天都去植树。.We go plant trees every spring.
- 02这片土地适合种植各种植物。.This piece of land is suitable for cultivating various plants.
Common collocations
- 植树节Arbor Day
- 植被vegetation cover
- 植入to implant
Antonyms
Origin
The character 植 combines the wood radical 木 (tree/wood) on the left with 直 (straight, upright) on the right. This suggests the image of planting something upright in the ground, particularly trees or plants that grow straight up.