ENESFRDE中文

Characters, words, pinyin or English

草 cǎo grass

grass; draft; rough

How to remember 草: 艹 grass + 早 early = grass. Dad starts mowing the grass so early on Sunday that the neighbours shout at him over one tiny patch of grass.

  • 789. most frequent character
  • HSK 3
  • 9 strokes
  • Radical 艸

Component breakdown

草 = 艹 grass + 早 early

  • 艹 grass
  • 早 early
    • 日 sun
    • 十 ten
The Gushi story

Dad starts mowing the grass so early on Sunday that the neighbours shout at him over one tiny patch of grass.

How it is used

  • Grass radical 艹 - literally grass: 草地 (cǎodì) lawn, 草原 (cǎoyuán) grassland.
  • A big second life: 'draft/rough' - 草案 (cǎo'àn) a draft proposal, 起草 (qǐcǎo) to draft (a document), 潦草 (liáocǎo) sloppy handwriting.
  • So 草 splits into concrete (plants, 草药 herbal medicine) and figurative (rough, unfinished) - the 'rough draft' sense trips up learners who only know 'grass'.

Words with 草

Example sentences

  • 这些小草很绿。 Zhèxiē xiǎocǎo hěn lǜ.The grass is very green.
  • 这些草莓真贵。 Zhèxiē cǎoméi zhēn guì.These strawberries are really expensive.
  • 他们躺在草地上休息。 Tāmen tǎng zài cǎodì shang xiūxi.They're lying on the grass, resting.
  • 房子的周围是一片草地。 Fángzi de zhōuwéi shì yī piàn cǎodì.The house is surrounded by lawn.