蒌 (lóu): (in 蒌蒿) Selengka wormwood, an e…

Meanings

1 (in 蒌蒿) Selengka wormwood, an edible riverside herb
2 (literary) the betel pepper plant

Characters

蒌

lóu

(in 蒌蒿) Selengka wormwood, an edible riverside herb

Examples

蒌蒿满地芦芽短。

Lóu hāo mǎn dì lúyá duǎn.

Reeds are short and wormwood shoots are just sprouting.

蒌蒿可以炒着当野菜吃。

Lóu hāo kěyǐ chǎo zhe dàng yěcài chī.

Wormwood shoots can be stir-fried and eaten as a wild vegetable.

Tips

culture

Mainly seen in 蒌蒿 (river wormwood), a tender riverside herb eaten as a spring wild vegetable and famous from Su Shi's poem about pufferfish season, when 'reeds are short and 蒌蒿 covers the ground'.

Components

radical

艹 cǎo

grass; plant (top radical)

The grass radical 艹 on top marks 蒌 as a plant — here an edible herb. It joins the wide grass-radical family with 蒿 (wormwood) and 荪.

phonetic

娄 lóu

to drag; empty (phonetic)

Below the cap, 娄 supplies the sound lóu directly. The same phonetic gives lóu in 楼 'building' and 搂, an easy sound clue. In the traditional 蔞 the phonetic is the fuller 婁.