草 (cǎo) — grass (the plant or material); straw; draft (of a document); manuscript
Definition
Two unrelated senses: the plant "grass/straw" (use 棵/株 for individual plants, 撮 for a pinch), and the written "draft/manuscript" — as in 草稿. 草地 is grass as a surface (a lawn); 稿子/稿件 are the finished draft itself.
noun
grass (the plant or material)strawdraft (of a document)manuscript
Measure word · 棵, 撮, 株, 根
Examples
- 草。Gōng yuán lǐ yǒu hěn duō cǎo.There is a lot of grass in the park.
- 草。Zhè xiē cǎo shì gěi niú chī de.This grass is for the cows to eat.
- 。Wǒ wán chéng le zhè fèn cǎo gǎo.I completed this draft.
Origin
Sound + meaning六书liùshū
形声xíngshēngMost 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.
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