牧草 (mù cǎo) — forage grass, pasture grass, herbage

Definition

noun
forage grasspasture grassherbage
Measure word · 种

Examples

  • 牧草。
    Mù mín zài cǎo yuán shàng zhòng zhí mù cǎo.
    Herdsmen plant forage grass on the grassland.
  • 牧草。
    Zhè xiē mù cǎo kě yǐ wèi niú hé yáng.
    This forage grass can feed cattle and sheep.
  • ，牧草。
    Jīn nián yǔ shuǐ chōng zú, mù cǎo cháng dé hěn hǎo.
    This year's rainfall is abundant, the forage grass grows well.

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.

牧mùgraze
草cǎograss

牧, grazing, and 草, grass, combine to mean grass used for pasture.

Characters in this word

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

牧 puts 牛 (cow) beside 攴 (a whip), showing someone herding cattle.

Open 牧 →

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 →

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