草图 (cǎo tú) — sketch, draft (preliminary drawing)

Definition

noun

sketchdraft (preliminary drawing)

Measure word · 张

草图。
Shè jì shī xiān huà le yì zhāng cǎo tú.
The designer first drew a sketch.
草图。
Zhè ge jiàn zhù de cǎo tú yǐ jīng wán chéng le.
The sketch of this building is already finished.
草图。
Tā yòng shǒu huì cǎo tú lái biǎo dá xiǎng fǎ.
He uses hand-drawn sketches to express ideas.

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.

草cǎorough/draft

图túdrawing

草 gives the sense of rough or draft, while 图 gives drawing, making 草图 a preliminary sketch.

Characters in this word

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

艹早草

Meaning part形符xíngfú

艹Written in full as艸cǎograss; plant

Sound part声符shēngfú

早

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.

Two or more meaningful parts placed together so that their meanings combine into a new one.

This origin belongs to the traditional form 圖; 图 is its simplified writing.

囗啚圖

The traditional form 圖 pairs 囗, a walled city, with 啚, an early form meaning remote areas or territory. The simplified 图 is a later abbreviation.

Appears in