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

Meanings

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

Characters

蒌

lóu

(in 蒌蒿) Selengka wormwood, an edible riverside herb

Examples

HSK 7-9

蒌蒿满地芦芽短。

Lóu hāo mǎn dì lúyá duǎn.

Reeds are short and wormwood shoots are just sprouting.

HSK 7-9

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.