What 竾 means
It names a bamboo pipe blown across the body.
Chinese dictionaries list 竾 as a variant of 篪, the regular dictionary entry for this flute name. The Shuowen, an early Chinese character dictionary, describes 篪 as a pipe-like instrument and writes it with the bamboo component, matching the instrument's material.
What was 竾 used for?
It was played in classical and ritual music.
The Erya, an early Chinese reference book, describes the related flute 篪 as a bamboo pipe blown across the body around 400 BCE. Later ritual writings disagree about its holes: some describe seven, others eight.
Early poetry and writing on ritual music place it in court ceremonies, where music marked order. As yayue, court ritual music, declined, the instrument grew rare while its name survived in dictionaries and historical writing.
Why does 竾 sometimes look wrong?
Its font determines how the glyph appears.
As of 2026, fonts for Chinese, Japanese, and Korean characters (CJK) may draw 竾 differently or show a missing-character box. Search under 篪 to find the usual dictionary entry, then check that the result is the exact glyph 竾.
Literary and specialist: 竾 names an old bamboo flute in classical Chinese writing.
Questions people ask
1Why does 竾 show as a box on some devices?
Because that device's fonts have no glyph for it. The character is still correct and still copies correctly — the box is a missing glyph, not a broken character.
How to type 竾
竾\7AFECodes and encoding1 code points
A visible symbol can contain several code points. JS .length counts UTF-16 units; UTF-8 counts bytes.