Meaning
grass; straw; draft (of a document); careless; rough; manuscript
Chinese: 草。
Hear the Four Tones
The same syllable “cao” becomes a different word in each tone. 草 is the 3rd tone. Tap any tone to hear a native voice and see its pitch shape.
Stroke Order
Tap Animate to watch the strokes in order, or Practice to trace it yourself.
Common Words
- 草地cǎo dìlawn; meadow; sod; turf
- 草原cǎo yuángrassland; prairie
- 起草qǐ cǎoto make a draft; to draw up (plans)
- 草案cǎo àndraft (legislation, proposal etc)
- 草率cǎo shuàicareless; negligent; sloppy; not serious
Example Sentence
小羊在草地上吃草。Xiǎo yáng zài cǎo dì shàng chī cǎo.The little sheep eat grass on the meadow.
小羊Xiǎo yánglamb在zàiat草地cǎo dìlawn上shàngon吃草chī cǎoto graze。
Go deeper
Where this character comes from
The plant radical 艹 on top over 早 (zǎo), which gives the sound. It means ‘grass’.
A way to remember it
A plant (艹) over the sound 早 — grass.
Easy to confuse with
- 早‘Early’: the sound part of 草, without the plant radical on top.