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Kanji Detail for 草 - "grass, grassland"

草

  • Meaning

    草 means "grass, grassland." Also associated with crude.

    1. Grass - Plants; wild vegetation.

    2. Rough - Crude; careless; lowly; coarse.

    3. Beginning - The start; the origin.

    4. Draft - A rough written draft; a preliminary sketch.

    5. Cursive script - A type of calligraphy; grass script.

  • Words using 草

    • 草案 そうあん Listen draft (for a speech, bill, etc.)
    • 草の根 くさのね Listen roots of grass; places hidden from sight; grassroots (e.g. of a political party)
    • 草原 そうげん Listen grassy field; grassland; meadow
    • 起草 きそう Listen drafting (e.g. a bill); drawing up
    • 草分け くさわけ Listen pathfinder; trailblazer; early settler
    • 雑草 ざっそう Listen weed
    • 草花 くさばな Listen flower; flowering plant
    • 除草 じょそう Listen weeding

  • Four-character idioms with 草

    • 一木一草 いちぼくいっそう Listen a single tree or blade of grass; every stick and stone (of a place)
    • 山川草木 さんせんそうもく Listen nature; natural scenery
    • 打草驚蛇 だそうきょうだ Listen prodding the unknown may bring about unnecessary trouble; brushing a patch of grass may startle a snake
    • 草根木皮 そうこんもくひ Listen roots of herbs and barks of trees used in Chinese medicine
    • 魯魚章草 ろぎょしょうそう Listen miswriting a word; using the wrong kanji to write a word

  • Tattoo check: 草

    • Verified meaning: grass, grassland
    • Official Jōyō kanji — a standard character every Japanese reader recognises
    • Used in real Japanese given names (read かや, くさ, くさざき, くさなぎ)
    • Also carries these associations: crude

    A single kanji rarely maps one-to-one onto an English word. Read the meanings and associations above as a set — a character that fits the dictionary definition can still carry a connotation you did not intend.

  • Name readings of 草

    Given names 草(かや)Listen 草(そう)Listen 草(はじめ)Listen

    Surnames 草(くさ)Listen 草(くさざき)Listen 草(くさなぎ)Listen 草(くさやぎ)Listen 草(くさやなぎ)Listen 草(したがき)Listen 草(そうじ)Listen

  • Dictionary Citations

    The meaning above is based on the following sources:

    KANJIDIC2 A comprehensive Japanese-English kanji dictionary

    grass; weeds; herbs; pasture; write; draft

    Unihan Unicode Han Database for CJK characters

    grass, straw, thatch, herbs

    CC-CEDICT A Chinese-English dictionary

    variant of 草[cao3]

    Make Me a Hanzi Open-source Chinese character data

    grass, herbs; straw, thatch

    XSZD Xuéshēng Zìdiǎn (學生字典) - Student's Dictionary

    A general term for herbaceous plants. The Shuowen originally wrote it as 艸. Classics have consistently used 草. | Coarse or rough. Such as 草率 (careless), 草創 (rough beginning). All mean incomplete or not fully prepared. | The term for being in the countryside. Such as 草澤 (marshlands), 草莽 (wilderness). | The meaning of treating lightly or abandoning. Such as saying 草菅人命 (treating human life like weeds). | To draft. Such as 草檄 (drafting a dispatch), 草表 (drafting a memorial). Anything with a draft that is not yet finalized is called 草. Such as 草案 (draft proposal), 草約 (preliminary agreement). Therefore literary drafts are also called 文草. Such as 遺草 (posthumous drafts), 未定草 (unfinished drafts), and the like. | 草書 (cursive script). A type of calligraphy. Began during the Han dynasty. Wei dynasty's Zhang Zhi was called the sage of cursive script. Appears in the "Book of Calligraphy."

  • Onyomi

    tip

    soh(ソウ) ソウ

  • Kunyomi

    tip

    gusa(ぐさ) ぐさ

    kusa(くさ) くさ

  • Strokes

    tip

    9 strokes

  • Radical

    tip

    艸 艹 (kusa・kusakammuri・soko)

  • Related Keywords

    grass grassland crude rough cursive script draft beginning humble weeds botanical ecology field flora foliage green hay herb horticulture landscape lawn meadow nature pasture plant turf vegetation

Sentences including 草

  • I can't give up smoking.

  • I could not refrain from smoking.

  • The doctor told him to cut down on smoking.

  • First , you have to stop smoking.

  • He advised me not to smoke.

  • Don't play around too much after school.

  • Smoking is a bad habit.

  • He gave up smoking two years ago.

  • I stopped smoking and drinking.

  • The doctor advised me not to smoke too much.

Sentences from Japanese classical masterpieces

More kanji with the radical 艸 艹 (kusa・kusakammuri・soko)

See all kanji with this radical →

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