艸

contributes the sense of grass · Kangxi radical 140

contributes the sense of grass, herbs, and plants in general

艸 is a doubling of 屮, a single sprout pushing up out of the ground with two leaves spreading to either side — so 艸 shows two shoots side by side, a patch of growing plants rather than one. In use it almost always shrinks to the flattened top element 艹, where the two sprouts survive as the two short uprights crossing one long horizontal line. Seeing 艹 at the top of a character, you are looking down at grass in a row from above.

艸 at a glance

Meaning

contributes the sense of grass

Strokes

6

Kangxi radical

140

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