竹 Radical 118 — bamboo
zhú (second tone, rising)
bamboo
Radical 1186 strokes1 characters
Also written ⺮ — the same radical in a different position inside the character.
Where the shape comes from
Two bamboo stalks side by side, each with a pair of leaves drooping from the node. As a header the stalks shorten to ⺮. Because books were written on bamboo slips and many tools were cut from it, ⺮ heads 笑, 等, 第, 筷, 算.