During the Southern and Northern Dynasties, a group of seven men of letters were known as the Seven Wise Men of the Bamboo Grove. Wisdom thus came to be associated with bamboo in literature.
馬來亞土著，在竹林起火之時，常聽到嗶嗶剝剝的聲音，因而以此聲來給竹命名。現今歐美語系中的竹字，大都源出於此。