漢字Kanji · in Textiles, Plants & Food
草: grass, weeds
Also: herbs, pasture, write, draft
艹 carries the meaning · 早 gives the sound
Small seal · Qin Today
Small seal: Wikimedia Commons, public domain. Today’s form: KanjiVG, CC BY-SA 3.0.
Two readings, and the words that use each
ソウsou · on'yomi · in compounds
- 草原そうげんgrass-covered plain, grasslands
- 草食そうしょくherbivorous
- 草稿そうこうnotes, draft, manuscript
- 草案そうあんdraft
- 雑草ざっそうweed
- 野草やそうwild grasses, wildflowers
- 海草かいそうseaweed
- 除草剤じょそうざいherbicide
くさkusa · kun'yomi · on its own
- 草くさgrass
- 草分けくさわけpioneer, trailblazer
Special readingsThese words are read as a whole, not from the readings above.
- 草履ぞうりzori, straw sandals
- 煙草たばこtobacco
Also read くさ-, -ぐさ, with no example words in our sources. Words: Kanji alive, CC BY 4.0.
Where it comes from
Origin · sourced
Phono-semantic compound (形聲)艸 grass; plant, as 艹 (meaning) + 早 (sound)
Originally referred to 皂, and later borrowed for the “grass” sense, replacing 艸.
Source: Wiktionary, 草 (rev. 93450145), CC BY-SA 4.0
Memory story · made up to help you remember
“Grass radical + early/sun (早) = the plants that are the first to grow in the early morning of spring.”
Connections
Easy to confuse
The difference, side by sideIn ChineseSame character in simplified and traditional · cǎo
Same form: 草 is written the same way in mainland China (simplified) and in Taiwan and Hong Kong (traditional).
- Simplified
- 草 mainland China, Singapore
- Traditional
- 草 Taiwan, Hong Kong
Pinyin cǎo most common reading
Forms and pinyin: Unicode Unihan database (Unicode License v3). Pinyin lists the most common reading, not every reading.