竹 | zhú

In Mandarin Chinese, 竹 (Pinyin: zhú) means “bamboo”. According to Wiktionary, 竹 shows

two bamboo stalks, with leaves. Earlier forms resembled 个 + 个, current form resembles rather ケ + ケ.

Lawrence J. Howell explains in his Etymological Dictionary of Han/Chinese Characters that 竹 is

A depiction of a pair of rigid, tubular bamboo stalks rising from the earth.

There are many toponyms that are compounds of 竹, for example

• 大 + 竹 = 大竹 (Dàzhú): Dazhu
• 竹 + 北 = 竹北 (Zhúběi): Zhubei
• 竹 + 南 = 竹南 (Zhúnán): Zhunan (Chunan)
• 竹 + 山 = 竹山 (Zhúshān): Zhushan
• 黄 + 竹山 = 黄竹山 (Huángzhúshān): Huangzhushan

and so on.

More photos related to bamboo @ Shutterstock.