莠 (yǒu): green foxtail grass (a common f…

Meanings

良莠不齐，形容人或事物好坏混杂。

Liángyǒubùqí, xíngróng rén huò shìwù hǎohuài hùnzá.

"The good and the bad mixed together" describes a group of uneven, mixed quality.

莠草像谷子，却是危害庄稼的杂草。

Yǒu cǎo xiàng gǔzi, què shì wēihài zhuāngjia de zácǎo.

Foxtail grass looks like millet but is a weed that harms the crop.

usage

Because foxtail grass mimics grain but is a weed, 莠 came to mean a bad person. The common phrase is 良莠不齐, "the good and the bad are mixed".

radical

艹 cǎo

grass; plant

艹 is the grass radical, marking 莠 as a plant. It groups this character with other grasses and weeds.

phonetic

秀 xiù

ear of grain; elegant

秀 gives the sound (xiù shifted to yǒu) and hints faintly at a grain-like plant, since 秀 itself means a ripening ear of grain.

莠 yǒu