草

草 (Kangxi radical 140, 艸+6, 10 strokes in traditional Chinese and Korean, 9 strokes in simplified Chinese and Japanese, cangjie input 廿日十 (TAJ), four-corner 4440₆, composition ⿱艹早)

• 𠹊, 愺, 𭡶, 𣺞, 𦞻, 𬃸, 𬊳, 𨕡, 騲(𮪤), 𮏱, 𢾳, 𬞁, 𮑅, 𠌓, 䓥, 𭆍, 𤌸

• KangXi: page 1030, character 17
• Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 30945
• Dae Jaweon: page 1489, character 14
• Hanyu Da Zidian (first edition): volume 5, page 3203, character 4
• Unihan data for U+8349

Historical forms of the character 草
Shuowen Jiezi (compiled in Han)	Liushutong (compiled in Ming)
Small seal script	Transcribed ancient scripts

Phono-semantic compound (形聲, OC *sʰuːʔ) : semantic 艹 (“grass; plant”) + phonetic 早 (OC *ʔsuːʔ). Originally referred to 皂, and later borrowed for the “grass” sense, replacing 艸.

From Proto-Sino-Tibetan *r-tswa-n (“grass”); cognate with Tibetan རྩྭ (rtswa, “grass”) (Schuessler, 2007; STEDT).

Alternatively, it may be related to 芻 (OC *sʰro, “hay”), from Austroasiatic; compare Mon ချဲ (“grass; weeds; hay”) (Schuessler, 2007).

草

1. herbaceous plant; herb; weed; grass

   草地上有一頭牛在吃草。 [MSC, trad.]
   草地上有一头牛在吃草。 [MSC, simp.]

   Cǎodì shàng yǒu yī tóu niú zài chī cǎo. [Pinyin]

   There is one cow eating grass on the lawn.

2. straw

   稻草  ―  dàocǎo  ―  rice straw

   草鞋  ―  cǎoxié  ―  straw sandals

3. (Cantonese, slang) marijuana; cannabis; weed

   㨃草 [Cantonese]  ―  deoi² cou² [Jyutping]  ―  to smoke weed

4. (dated) countryside; wilderness

   落草為寇／落草为寇  ―  luòcǎowéikòu  ―  to become a bandit in the countryside

5. common; ordinary

   草金魚／草金鱼  ―  cǎojīnyú  ―  common goldfish

6. (dialectal, chiefly of livestock or poultry) female
7. draft; sketch
8. careless; rough; sloppy
9. to draft

   草擬／草拟  ―  cǎonǐ  ―  to draft; to draw up (a plan)

10. (calligraphy) Short for 草書／草书 (cǎoshū, “cursive script (grass script)”).

    狂草  ―  kuángcǎo  ―  wild cursive

    1. cursive
11. (chemistry) oxalic

Others:

• Vietnamese: tháu (“scrawling”)

草

1. (slang, euphemistic, Internet slang) Alternative form of 肏 (cào, “fuck”).

Orthographic borrowing from Japanese 草 (kusa, “LOL”). See the Japanese entry for more information.

As an interjection, this term is easily confused with the native “fuck” sense above. To distinguish between the two senses, 中國語／中国语 (zhōngguóyǔ, “Chinese”) and 日本語／日本语 (rìběnyǔ, “Japanese”) are usually put in parentheses following the term to specify which sense is intended.

草

1. (neologism, Internet slang) LOL

   草（中日雙語）／草（中日双语）  ―  cǎo (zhōngrì shuāngyǔ)  ―  fuck lmao

2. (neologism, Internet slang) hilarious

   這也太草了吧。／这也太草了吧。  ―  Zhè yě tài cǎo le ba.  ―  Isn't this a bit too hilarious?

(grade 1 “Kyōiku” kanji)

• Go-on: そう (sō, Jōyō)^{←さう (sau, historical)}
• Kan-on: そう (sō, Jōyō)^{←さう (sau, historical)}
• Kun: くさ (kusa, 草, Jōyō)
• Nanori: そ (so); や (ya); かや (kaya); しげ (shige)

From Old Japanese, ultimately from Proto-Japonic *kusa. Found in the Man'yōshū, completed some time after 759 CE.

Possible derivation from onomatopoeic かさかさ (referring to the dry, rustling sound of grass).[1]

The development of the fake, amateur senses is unclear.

• 艸 (uncommon)

• (Tokyo) くさ​ [kùsáꜜ] (Odaka – [2])[2][3]
• IPA^(key): [kɯ̟̊ᵝsa̠]

草(くさ) • (kusa) 

1. grass

   草(くさ)を刈(か)る

   kusa o karu

   to cut grass

   Synonym: (in reference to a lawn) 芝生 (shibafu)

2. a weed
3. a herb

   Synonyms: ハーブ (hābu), (medicinal) 薬草 (yakusō), (cooking) 香草 (kōsō)

4. a scout, a spy (from the way one would hide in the grass to observe enemy troops)
5. (figurative, slang, rare) pubic hair

草(くさ) • (kusa-) 

1. a fake, a mimic, not the real thing

   草(くさ)蜉蝣(かげろう)

   kusakagerō

   a lacewing fly (literally, “fake or mimic dragonfly”, from the visual resemblance)

2. amateur, small-time

   草(くさ)野(や)球(きゅう)、草(くさ)競(けい)馬(ば)

   kusayakyū, kusakeiba

   amateur or pick-up baseball, small-time horse-racing

/sau/ → /sɔː/ → /soː/

From Middle Chinese 草 (MC t͡sʰɑuX).

• (Tokyo) そ​ー [sóꜜò] (Atamadaka – [1])[2][3]
• IPA^(key): [so̞ː]

草(そう) • (sō) ^{←さう (sau)?}

1. grass
2. a draft, a rough copy
3. cursive, calligraphy in a running hand
4. something unofficial, an informal abbreviation or knock-off

• (draft): 草案(そうあん) (sōan)
• (cursive): 草書(そうしょ) (sōsho, a document), 草仮名(そうがな) (sōgana, phonetic man'yōgana characters written in cursive)

From the resemblance of multiple repetitions of w (“LOL”) to grass: wwwwwwwww.

Possibly influenced by the term くすくす (kusukusu), an adverb indicating stifled laughter. (Can this⁽⁺⁾ etymology be sourced?)

• (Tokyo) くさ​ [kùsáꜜ] (Odaka – [2])[2][3]
• IPA^(key): [kɯ̟̊ᵝsa̠]

草(くさ) • (kusa) 

1. (Internet slang) "grass", in reference to the expression w (“LOL”); LOLs

草(くさ) • (kusa) 

1. Ellipsis of 草生える (kusa haeru): (Internet slang) … it's hilarious

   Synonyms: 草生える (kusa haeru), 笑える (waraeru)

   鯖(さば)落(お)ちてて草(くさ)

   saba ochitete kusa

   lol the server's down

   下手(へた)すぎて草(くさ)

   heta-sugite kusa

   hilariously shitty

   4日(よっか)しかないのは草(くさ)

   yokka shika nai no wa kusa

   only 4 days left haha

• 大草原(だいそうげん) (daisōgen, literally “great fields of grass”)
• 草(くさ)生(は)える (kusa haeru, literally “grass grows”)
• 草(くさ)不可避(ふかひ) (kusa fukahi, literally “grass is unavoidable”)

• 大爆笑:
• 笑:

草 (eumhun 풀 초 (pul cho))

1. Hanja form^? of 초 (“grass”).

草: Hán Nôm readings: thảo, tháu, xáo

1. grass
2. straw
3. thatch
4. herbs

• Nom Foundation