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粗糙 (cū cāo) — rough, coarse (of texture or surface); crude, gruff (of workmanship, character, or voice)

Definition

Covers both 'rough/coarse' texture and 'crude/gruff' manner or workmanship. Compared with 粗, it focuses on surface or manner rather than 粗's 'thick' or 'vulgar' senses; 粗暴 is stronger and leans toward violence.

adjective
roughcoarse (of texture or surface)crudegruff (of workmanship, character, or voice)

Examples

  • 粗糙。
    Zhè zhǒng bù liào mō qǐ lái hěn cū cāo.
    This kind of fabric feels very rough.
  • 粗糙，。
    Tā de shǒu gōng bǐ jiào cū cāo, hái xū yào gǎi jìn.
    His handiwork is quite crude and needs improvement.
  • 粗糙。
    Tā gǎn mào hòu shēng yīn biàn de yǒu xiē cū cāo.
    After catching a cold, her voice became a bit hoarse.

Origin

Compound word
构词法gòucífǎ
联合liánhéCoordinate

Two parts of equal weight, alike or opposite in meaning, standing side by side.

粗cūcoarse
糙cāorough

“粗” coarse and “糙” rough combine to describe a rough, unpolished surface or work.

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.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
米米mǐrice
Sound part声符shēngfú
且
且qiě粗cū
Close in sound todayThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

粗 pairs 米 (rice), which points to its meaning, with 且, which gives a clue to its sound.

Open 粗 →

No reliable origin is recorded for this character.

Open 糙 →
Appears in
HSK 3.0 Level 7-9Texture & Quality

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