艹 (cǎo) · grass radical (草字头)

Meanings

1 grass radical (草字头)
2 (internet slang) substitute for the vulgar 操 (cào, 'fuck'); expresses surprise, frustration or excitement

Characters

艹

cǎo

grass radical

Examples

HSK 6

艹,这操作太骚了!

Cǎo, zhè cāozuò tài sāo le!

Damn, that move was sick! (internet slang)

HSK 7-9

艹是花、草、菜等字的部首。

Cǎo shì huā, cǎo, cài děng zì de bùshǒu.

艹 is the radical of characters like 花 (flower), 草 (grass), 菜 (vegetable).

Tips

usage

Two completely different uses. (1) As a printing radical 艹 ('grass top', 草字头) sits atop 花, 草, 茶, 菜 and many plant-related characters, the top-form variant of 艸 (Kangxi #140). (2) On the Chinese internet 艹 is a softened stand-in for the homophone 操 (cào, 'fuck'), a pseudo-polite exclamation of shock or admiration. The internet sense is mildly vulgar, much milder than 操 itself.

memory

The shape is two grass tufts side-by-side, originally written 艸 (two 屮 'sprouts'), simplified to the four-stroke 艹 we see in modern fonts.

Components

pictograph

艹 cǎo

grass; plant (radical form)

Pictograph: two compressed grass blades with a ground line, drawn as a three-stroke top cap. Compressed side-form of 艸/草 used at the top of plant chars (花, 草, 茶, 苗). Atomic, not analyzable. Internet slang has co-opted 艹 as a mild substitute for the vulgar 操 cào.

Radical

Grass Kangxi #140

The grass radical. Archaic full form behind the modern top variant 艹. Among the most productive radicals in the language, indexing nearly all plant, herb, flower, vegetable, and herbal-medicine vocabulary: 花, 草, 茶, 菜, 苦, 药, 茄, 苹, 萝, 蔬, 蓝, 蕉. In practice you read it as the four-stroke 艹 cap, never as 艸.