艹 meaning and stroke order
Grass, weed, plant, herb
How to write 艹, stroke by stroke
3 strokes in order. Each box adds the next stroke in red. Write top to bottom and left to right, and finish enclosing strokes last.
- 1
- 2
- 3
Meaning of 艹
Definitions from CC-CEDICT, grouped by pronunciation.
- grass radical 草字頭兒|草字头儿[cao3 zi4 tou2 r5]
How 艹 is built
Pictographic character. Simplified form of 艸; grass sprouting.
How to remember 艹
Picture two little sprouts of grass pushing up through the ground, joined by a line of soil. 艹 is a simplified form of 艸, which shows grass sprouting side by side.
艹 almost never appears as a word on its own. It sits on top of many characters about plants, and people call it 草字头 (cǎo zì tóu), the grass top. For example, 花 (huā, flower), 茶 (chá, tea) and 草 (cǎo, grass) all start with it.
Common mistake: Learners sometimes write 艹 as a separate word for grass. In real writing you use 草 (cǎo). Also, do not confuse it with 廾 or the top of 共 (gòng), which look similar but are not related to plants.
Characters that contain 艹
Learning 艹 makes these easier to recognize and write.
Questions about 艹
How many strokes are in 艹?
艹 is written with 3 strokes. The diagrams on this page number every stroke in the order it is written, with the new stroke shown in red.
What does 艹 mean?
艹 (cǎo) means grass, weed, plant, herb.
How do you pronounce 艹?
艹 is pronounced cǎo, in the third tone (dipping).
Why do people online sometimes type 艹 or 草 as a reaction?
In internet slang, 草 (cǎo) sounds like a rude swear word, so people use it, or sometimes 艹, as a softer stand-in. It can also mean something like lol, borrowed from Japanese usage. Avoid it in polite or formal settings.
Does every character with 艹 on top have to do with plants?
Many do, such as 花 (huā), 菜 (cài, vegetable) and 药 (yào, medicine, originally herbs). Some have drifted in meaning, like 苦 (kǔ, bitter) or 英 (yīng). The grass top is a helpful hint, not a rule.