拔草 (bá cǎo) — to pull up weeds | tongtong Chinese Dictionary

Definition

Literal 'pull up weeds' (拔 = pull out, 草 = grass/weed). Also slang online for 'buying a recommended item' — the one learners meet at HSK 7 is the gardening sense.

verb

to pull up weeds

Examples

。
Wǒ zuó tiān zài huā yuán lǐ bá le yí gè xiǎo shí de cǎo.
I pulled weeds in the garden for an hour yesterday.
，拔草。
Chūn tiān dào le, nóng mín men kāi shǐ bá cǎo.
Spring has arrived, and the farmers have started weeding.
拔草。
bá cǎo Shì yuán yì gōng zuò de yí bù fen.
Weeding is part of gardening work.

Origin

Compound word

构词法gòucífǎ

动宾dòngbīnVerb + object

An action followed by what it acts on, fused into one word.

Pulling grass or weeds by hand gives the action of weeding.

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.

扌犮拔

Meaning part形符xíngfú

扌Written in full as手shǒuhand

Sound part声符shēngfú

犮

犮bá拔bá

Same sound today

In 拔, the left side 扌 is a hand and the right side 犮 gives the sound; the shape pictures a hand pulling.

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

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.

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