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三叶草 (sān yè cǎo) — clover

Definition

noun
clover
Measure word · 棵

Examples

  • 三叶草。
    Cǎo dì shàng zhǎng mǎn le sān yè cǎo.
    The grass is full of clover.
  • 三叶草。
    Zhè zhǒng sān yè cǎo de yè zi hěn hǎo kàn.
    The leaves of this clover are very pretty.
  • 三叶草。
    Wǒ zhǎo dào le yì kē sì yè sān yè cǎo.
    I found a four-leaf clover.

Origin

Compound word
构词法gòucífǎ
偏正piānzhèngModifier + head

The first part narrows down the second: it says what kind of thing the head is.

三叶three leaves
三sānthree叶yèleaf
偏正Modifier + head
草cǎograss

三叶 says three leaves, 草 is a herb; clover has three leaves.

Characters in this word

An abstract idea shown by a mark or a diagram rather than by a picture of an object.

三 is drawn as three parallel strokes, like 一 with one stroke and 二 with two.

Open 三 →

Most characters — around four in five — are built this way: one part hints at the meaning, the other at the pronunciation.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
口口kǒu
Sound part声符shēngfú
十
十shí叶yè
The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

The form 叶 pairs 口 (mouth) with 十 (ten) as an old form meaning cooperate; it later came to mean leaf because it sounded similar.

Open 叶 →

Most characters — around four in five — are built this way: one part hints at the meaning, the other at the pronunciation.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
艹Written in full as艸cǎograss; plant
Sound part声符shēngfú
早
早zǎo草cǎo
Close in sound todayThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

草 pairs 艹 (grass; plant) with 早, which gives the sound. The form originally referred to another word and was later used for the grass sense.

Open 草 →
Appears in
Plants & Flowers

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