草本 (cǎo běn) — herbaceous (botany); manuscript; rough draft

Definition

In botany, 草本 (cǎoběn) means 'herbaceous' — a plant with soft, non-woody stems (vs. 木本 woody). The second sense 'manuscript / draft' is an unrelated literary term.

noun
herbaceous (botany)manuscriptrough draft
Easily confused

Examples

  • 草本。
    cǎo běn Zhí wù de jīng yì bān dōu hěn ruǎn.
    The stems of herbaceous plants are generally very soft.
  • 草本，。
    Zhè zhǒng huā shì cǎo běn zhí wù, dōng tiān huì kū sǐ dàn chūn tiān yòu cháng chū lái.
    This flower is an herbaceous plant; it dies in winter but grows back in spring.
  • 草本，。
    Tā zài tú shū guǎn yán jiū míng dài cǎo běn, nèi róng shè jí nóng yè.
    He is researching Ming dynasty manuscripts in the library; the content relates to agriculture.

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.

草cǎograss/herb; draft
本běnroot/base; book

Grass/herb plus base gives a herbaceous plant; draft plus book gives a rough manuscript.

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
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 →

An abstract idea shown by a mark or a diagram rather than by a picture of an object.

本 adds a stroke at the bottom of a tree shape to mark the roots, giving the sense of foundation or original.

Open 本 →

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