草稿 (cǎo gǎo) — draft; sketch; outline | TongTong Chinese Dictionary

Definition

noun

draftsketchoutline

Examples

草稿。
Lùn wén de dì yī cǎo gǎo xiě dé hěn luàn.
The first draft of the thesis was very messy.
草稿，。
Huà jiā xiān huà le cǎo gǎo, zài màn màn xiū gǎi.
The artist first made a sketch, then slowly revised it.
草稿。
Yǎn jiǎng qián tā xiān xiě le yí gè cǎo gǎo.
Before the speech, he wrote an outline first.

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cǎorough/preliminary

稿gǎomanuscript

草 suggests rough or preliminary and 稿 means manuscript, so the word denotes a preliminary 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.

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.

Most characters — around four in five — are built this way: one part hints at the meaning, the other at the pronunciation.

禾高稿

Meaning part形符xíngfú

Sound part声符shēngfú

高

Same sound today

稿 is built from 禾, which carries the meaning, and 高, which supplies the pronunciation.

Appears in

Reading & Writing

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