One character a day, easy to master Chinese characters. Let's take a look at the basic knowledge of "草".

 

草 cǎo
Explnantion: grass
Phrases: 草地cǎo dì:meadow

“草(Cao, grass)” is a pictographic character in oracle bone inscriptions. It vividly resembles two blades of grass thrusting out of the earth. The character in the small seal script has basically the same shape as that in oracle bone inscriptions. In the regular script, the character becomes what it looks like now with a character “早 (Zao, early)” attached below its original. The character “草(Cao, grass)” in Chinese language is also a radical written as “艹”. Words carrying this radical are mostly associated with plants, such as “花” (Hua, flower), “菇” (Gu, mushroom), “葱” (Cong, scallion), “芝” (Zhi, glossy ganoderma), and so on.

The character “草” originally means uncultivated land. It later becomes a general term for herbaceous plants. By extension, it carries the meanings of “manuscript” and “first draft”; it can also be used to describe something rough and coarse. The character also means “hasty” and “careless”. Hence comes the name of “草书” (Caoshu, cursive script), a style of Chinese calligraphy with strokes flowing together.

Sentences

Zhè piàn lóngcōng de cǎodì, shì gè sànbù de hǎo dìfāng.
这片茏葱的草地,是个散步的好地方。
The luxuriant lawn is an ideal place for walking.