本草

běncǎo

noun

Meanings

HSK 4

李时珍花了近三十年研究本草。

Lǐ Shízhēn huā le jìn sānshí nián yánjiū běncǎo.

Li Shizhen spent nearly thirty years studying materia medica.

HSK 5

古代的本草书里记载了上千种药物。

Gǔdài de běncǎo shū lǐ jìzǎi le shàngqiān zhǒng yàowù.

The old herbals record more than a thousand kinds of medicine.

history

The name means 'based on herbs', since most remedies were plants. The oldest such book is the 神农本草经, and the most famous the 本草纲目.

本 běn

草 cǎo