菽 (shū): legumes; pulses (beans and peas)

Meanings

1 legumes; pulses (beans and peas)

Characters

菽

shū

legumes; beans

Examples

中原有菽，小民采之。

Zhōngyuán yǒu shū, xiǎomín cǎi zhī.

In the central plains there are beans, and the common folk gather them.

他菽麦不分，毫无常识。

Tā shūmài bùfēn, háowú chángshí.

He could not tell beans from wheat — utterly impractical.

Tips

history

菽 is the classical collective word for beans and pulses, one of the five staple grains of ancient China. It survives in set phrases like 菽水 (beans and water, meaning a humble but devoted way of caring for one's parents) and 菽麦不分 ('can't tell beans from wheat', i.e. clueless about everyday things).

Components

radical

艹 cǎo

grass; plant

The grass radical on top, a form of 草. It marks 菽 as a plant word — beans are a crop — placing it with 花 (flower) and 茶 (tea).

phonetic

叔 shū

uncle (phonetic)

Supplies the sound. Standalone 叔 means a father's younger brother; here it gives the exact shū reading. Its own bean-picking origin makes it a fitting phonetic, but in modern use it contributes only the sound.