Radical 18 of 20 · かんむり · top
艹 くさかんむり: grass
Plants: grass, flowers, leaves, tea, vegetables, and medicine made from herbs.
Heads 17 of the 1026 kanji taught in Japanese primary school.
字源 · WHY THIS SHAPE
From a picture to 艹
- 1. The picture
Two sprouts of grass side by side.
- 2. Shrunk on top
On top, the two sprouts flatten into the compact 艹.
Origins follow the commonly taught explanations. Where scholars disagree, we say so.
What the family is about
Plants: grass, flowers, leaves, tea, vegetables, and medicine made from herbs.
- 花flower
- 草grass
- 葉leaf
- 薬medicine
When the hint fails
A few are only loosely about plants.
- 英England
- 若young
The 艹 family, grade by grade
Every primary-school kanji filed under 艹. Tap one to see its meaning.
Grade 1小1 · 2
花
flower草
grass, weeds
Grade 2小2 · 1
茶
tea
Grade 3小3 · 5
葉
leaf, plane落
fall, drop苦
suffering, trial薬
medicine, chemical荷
baggage, shoulder-pole load
Grade 4小4 · 5
英
England, English芸
technique, art茨
briar, thorn菜
vegetable, side dish芽
bud, sprout
Grade 6小6 · 4
若
young, if蔵
storehouse, hide著
renowned, publish蒸
steam, heat
Family: kanji whose classical radical in KANJIDIC2 is 艸 (no. 140). KANJIDIC2 © EDRDG, CC BY-SA 4.0.