草

Stroke order

Stroke order (Hong Kong)

Stroke order (Taiwan)

草 (Kangxi radical 140, 艸+6, 10 strokes in traditional Chinese and Korean, 9 strokes in simplified Chinese and Japanese, cangjie input 廿日十 (TAJ), four-corner 4440₆, composition ⿱艹早)

• 愺, 騲(𮪤), 䓥, 𠹊, 𭡶, 𬃸, 𣺞, 𬊳, 𦞻, 𧤣, 𦹯, 𫶱, 𫥬, 𨕡, 𢾳, 𮐍, 𦹸, 𮏱, 𮐌, 𦺏, 𬞁, 𦷖, 𦹵, 𦾠, 𮑅, 𧄳, 𮒠, 𮒇, 𧅭, 𫊘, 𮓆, 𭆍, 𪋛, 𠌓, 𤌸, 𦸶, 𧄣, 𦳕

• Kangxi Dictionary: page 1030, character 17
• Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 30945
• Dae Jaweon: page 1489, character 14
• Hanyu Da Zidian (first edition): volume 5, page 3203, character 4
• Unihan data for U+8349

Historical forms of the character 草
Shuowen Jiezi (compiled in Han)	Liushutong (compiled in Ming)
Small seal script	Transcribed ancient scripts

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *sʰuːʔ) : semantic 艹 (“grass; plant”) + phonetic 早 (OC *ʔsuːʔ). Originally referred to 皂, and later borrowed for the “grass” sense, replacing 艸.

From Proto-Sino-Tibetan *r-tswa-n (“grass”); cognate with Tibetan རྩྭ (rtswa, “grass”) (Schuessler, 2007; STEDT).

Alternatively, it may be related to 芻 (OC *sʰro, “hay”), from Austroasiatic; compare Mon ချဲ (“grass; weeds; hay”) (Schuessler, 2007).

草

1. herbaceous plant; herb; weed; wort; grass; forb

   草地上有一頭牛在吃草。 [MSC, trad.]
   草地上有一头牛在吃草。 [MSC, simp.]

   Cǎodì shàng yǒu yī tóu niú zài chī cǎo.

   There is one cow eating grass on the lawn.

   香草  ―  xiāngcǎo  ―  fragrant herb

   除草  ―  chúcǎo  ―  to weed

   草木樨  ―  cǎomùxī  ―  sweet clover

   草魚／草鱼  ―  cǎoyú  ―  grass carp (a herbivorous fish)

2. Used in names of some woody plants.

   莽草  ―  mǎngcǎo  ―  Illicium henryi and Illicium lanceolatum

   舞草  ―  wǔcǎo  ―  Codariocalyx motorius

   醉魚草／醉鱼草  ―  zuìyúcǎo  ―  Buddleja lindleyana

3. straw

   稻草  ―  dàocǎo  ―  rice straw

   草鞋  ―  cǎoxié  ―  straw sandals

4. (Cantonese, slang) marijuana; cannabis; weed

   㨃草 [Cantonese]  ―  deoi² cou²   ―  to smoke weed

5. (dated) countryside; wilderness

   草野  ―  cǎoyě  ―  wilderness

   落草為寇／落草为寇  ―  luòcǎowéikòu  ―  to become a bandit in the countryside

6. common; ordinary

   草民  ―  cǎomín  ―  common people

   草球  ―  cǎoqiú  ―  Echinopsis oxygona

   草金魚／草金鱼  ―  cǎojīnyú  ―  common goldfish

   草龜／草龟  ―  cǎoguī  ―  Mauremys reevesii (the most common turtle in China)

   草狗  ―  cǎogǒu  ―  native breeds of dog

   草雞／草鸡  ―  cǎojī  ―  native breeds of chiken

7. (dialectal, chiefly of livestock or poultry) female (variant: 騲)

   草馬／草马  ―  cǎomǎ  ―  female horse

   草狗  ―  cǎogǒu  ―  female dog

   草雞／草鸡  ―  cǎojī  ―  hen

8. careless; rough; sloppy

   草率  ―  cǎolǜ  ―  hasty

   草書／草书  ―  cǎoshū  ―  cursive script

9. (calligraphy) Short for 草書／草书 (cǎoshū, “cursive script (grass script)”).

   狂草  ―  kuángcǎo  ―  wild cursive script

10. draft; sketch

    草擬／草拟  ―  cǎonǐ  ―  to draft; to draw up (a plan)

11. (chemistry) oxalic

Others:

• Vietnamese: tháu (“scrawling”)

草

1. (slang, euphemistic, Internet slang) Alternative form of 肏 (“fuck”)

Orthographic borrowing from Japanese 草 (kusa, “LOL”). See the Japanese entry for more information.

As an interjection, this term is easily confused with the native “fuck” sense above. To distinguish between the two senses, 中國語／中国语 (Zhōngguóyǔ, “Chinese”) and 日本語／日本语 (Rìběnyǔ, “Japanese”) are usually put in parentheses following the term to specify which sense is intended.

草

1. (neologism, Internet slang) LOL

   草（中日雙語）／草（中日双语）  ―  cǎo (zhōngrì shuāngyǔ)  ―  fuck lmao (literally, “草 (in Chinese and Japanese)”)

2. (neologism, Internet slang) hilarious

   這也太草了吧。／这也太草了吧。  ―  Zhè yě tài cǎo le ba.  ―  Isn't this a bit too hilarious?

• “草”, in 漢語多功能字庫 (Multi-function Chinese Character Database)‎, 香港中文大學 (the Chinese University of Hong Kong), 2014–

(First grade kyōiku kanji)

• Go-on: そう (sō, Jōyō)^{←さう (sau, historical)}
• Kan-on: そう (sō, Jōyō)^{←さう (sau, historical)}
• Kun: くさ (kusa, 草, Jōyō)
• Nanori: そ (so)、や (ya)、かや (kaya)、しげ (shige)

From Old Japanese, ultimately from Proto-Japonic *kusa. Found in the Man'yōshū, completed some time after 759 CE.^[1] Possibly cognate with Korean 꽃 (kkot, “flower”).

The development of the fake, amateur senses is unclear.

• (Tokyo) くさ (Odaka – )^[2][3]
• IPA^(key):

草(くさ) • (kusa) 

1. grass

   Synonym: (in reference to a lawn) 芝生 (shibafu)

   草(くさ)を刈(か)る

   kusa o karu

   to cut grass

2. a weed
3. a herb

   Synonyms: ハーブ (hābu), (medicinal) 薬草 (yakusō), (cooking) 香草 (kōsō)

4. a scout, a spy (from the way one would hide in the grass to observe enemy troops)
5. (figurative, slang, rare) pubic hair

草(くさ) • (kusa-) 

1. a fake, a mimic, not the real thing

   草(くさ)蜉蝣(かげろう)

   kusakagerō

   a lacewing fly (literally, “fake or mimic dragonfly”, from the visual resemblance)

2. amateur, small-time

   草(くさ)野(や)球(きゅう)、草(くさ)競(けい)馬(ば)

   kusayakyū, kusakeiba

   amateur or pick-up baseball, small-time horse-racing

/sau/ → /sɔː/ → /soː/

From Middle Chinese 草 (MC tshawX).

• (Tokyo) そー (Atamadaka – )^[3][2]
• IPA^(key):

草(そう) • (sō) ^{←さう (sau)?}

1. grass
2. a draft, a rough copy
3. cursive, calligraphy in a running hand
4. something unofficial, an informal abbreviation or knock-off

• (draft): 草案(そうあん) (sōan)
• (cursive): 草書(そうしょ) (sōsho, a document), 草仮名(そうがな) (sōgana, phonetic man'yōgana characters written in cursive)

From the resemblance of multiple repetitions of w (w, “LOL”) to grass: wwwwwwwww.

Possibly influenced by the term くすくす (kusukusu), an adverb indicating stifled laughter. (Can this⁽⁺⁾ etymology be sourced?)

• (Tokyo) くさ (Odaka – )^[3][2]
• IPA^(key):

草(くさ) • (kusa) 

1. (Internet slang) LOL

草(くさ) • (kusa) 

1. (Internet slang) "grass", in reference to the expression w (w, “LOL”); LOLs

草(くさ) • (kusa) 

1. Ellipsis of 草(が)生える (kusa (ga) haeru, literally “grass grows”): (Internet slang) … it's hilarious

   Synonyms: 草(が)生える (kusa (ga) haeru, literally “grass grows”), 笑える (waraeru, “(it is) laughable”)

   鯖(さば)落(お)ちてて草(くさ)

   saba ochitete kusa

   lol the server's down

   下手(へた)すぎて草(くさ)

   heta-sugite kusa

   hilariously shitty

   4日(よっか)しかないのは草(くさ)

   yokka shika nai no wa kusa

   only 4 days left haha

   つべで紹介(しょうかい)されてて草(くさ)

   Tsube de shōkai saretete kusa

   it got introduced on YouTube lol

• 大草原(だいそうげん) (daisōgen, literally “great fields of grass”)
• 草(くさ)生(は)える (kusa haeru, literally “grass grows”)
• 草(くさ)不可避(ふかひ) (kusa fukahi, literally “grass is unavoidable”)

• 大爆笑(だいばくしょう) (daibakushō)
• 笑(わら) (wara)

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium. Particularly: “Middle Korean readings, if any”)

• (SK Standard/Seoul) IPA^(key):
• Phonetic hangul:

Korean Wikisource has texts containing the hanja:

草

Wikisource

草 (eumhun 풀 초 (pul cho))

1. hanja form^? of 초 (“grass”)

草: Hán Nôm readings: thảo, tháu, xáo

1. chữ Hán form of thảo (“grass; herbs; draft”).
2. chữ Hán form of Thảo (“a female given name”).

   阮氏芳草 ― Nguyễn Thị Phương Thảo

• Nom Foundation