草

Translingual

Stroke order

Stroke order (Hong Kong)

Stroke order (Taiwan)

Han character

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)

Derived characters

• 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

References

• 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

Chinese

Glyph origin

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.

Etymology 1

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).

Pronunciation

Definitions

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

   蒿草  ―  hāocǎo  ―  mugwort

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. careless; rough; sloppy

   草率  ―  cǎolǜ  ―  hasty

   草書／草书  ―  cǎoshū  ―  cursive script

7. common; ordinary

   草民  ―  cǎomín  ―  common people

   草金魚／草金鱼  ―  cǎojīnyú  ―  common goldfish

8. (dialectal, chiefly of livestock or poultry) female
9. draft; sketch
10. to draft

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

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

    狂草  ―  kuángcǎo  ―  wild cursive

    1. cursive
12. (chemistry) oxalic

Compounds

Descendants

Others:

• Vietnamese: tháu (“scrawling”)

Etymology 2

Etymology 3

Pronunciation

Definitions

草

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

Etymology 4

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.

Pronunciation

Definitions

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?

References

• “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–

Japanese

Kanji

(grade 1 “Kyōiku” kanji)

Readings

• 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)

Compounds

Etymology 1

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

The development of the fake, amateur senses is unclear.

Pronunciation

• (Tokyo) くさ​ (Odaka – )
• IPA^(key):

Noun

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

Prefix

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

Etymology 2

/sau/ → /sɔː/ → /soː/

From Middle Chinese 草 (MC tshawX).

Pronunciation

• (Tokyo) そ​ー (Atamadaka – )
• IPA^(key):

Noun

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

Synonyms

• (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)

Etymology 3

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?)

Pronunciation

• (Tokyo) くさ​ (Odaka – )
• IPA^(key):

Noun

草(くさ) • (kusa) 

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

Phrase

草(くさ) • (kusa) 

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

   Synonyms: 草生える (kusa haeru), 笑える (waraeru)

   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

Derived terms

• 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”)

See also

• 大爆笑
• 笑

References

Korean

Etymology

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

Pronunciation

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

Hanja

Korean Wikisource has texts containing the hanja:

草

Wikisource

草 (eumhun 풀 초 (pul cho))

1. Hanja form^? of 초 (“grass”).

Vietnamese

Han character

草: Hán Nôm readings: thảo, tháu, xáo

1. grass
2. straw
3. thatch
4. herbs

References

• Nom Foundation