# 艹

| 艹 | U+8279, &#33401; CJK UNIFIED IDEOGRAPH-8279 |
| ← 艸 [U+8278] | CJK Unified Ideographs | 艺 → [U+827A] |
| ⺾ | U+2EBE, &#11966; CJK RADICAL GRASS ONE |
| ← ⺽ [U+2EBD] | CJK Radicals Supplement | ⺿ → [U+2EBF] |
| ⺿ | U+2EBF, &#11967; CJK RADICAL GRASS TWO |
| ← ⺾ [U+2EBE] | CJK Radicals Supplement | ⻀ → [U+2EC0] |
| ⻀ | U+2EC0, &#11968; CJK RADICAL GRASS THREE |
| ← ⺿ [U+2EBF] | CJK Radicals Supplement | ⻁ → [U+2EC1] |
| 艹 | U+FA5D, &#64093; CJK COMPATIBILITY IDEOGRAPH-FA5D |
| ← 臭 [U+FA5C] | CJK Compatibility Ideographs | 艹 → [U+FA5E] |
| 艹 | U+FA5E, &#64094; CJK COMPATIBILITY IDEOGRAPH-FA5E |
| ← 艹 [U+FA5D] | CJK Compatibility Ideographs | 著 → [U+FA5F] |

## Translingual

| Japanese | 艹 |
| Simplified | 艹 |
| Traditional | 艹 |

### Alternative forms

The non-radical form of this character is 艸, with six strokes, and that appears as a radical in a few characters (芔, 茻, and stacked vertically in 芻).
In almost all other characters, however, the radical is a simplified top form. This top form is traditionally written as two separated crosses, 艹, with four strokes (like 十 十, separation may not be visible at small font size). In its modern form, it is a single unit of 艹 (or in some character styles 䒑), with three strokes. Traditional Chinese characters today use either the traditional or modern radical form, while simplified Chinese characters, Japanese shinjitai, and Korean Hanja use the modern radical. All this can lead to the grass radical being counted as three (艹), four (艹), or six (艸) strokes.
Additionally, the four stroke radical ⻀ (two separated sideways T's) has also been simplified as the three stroke 艹 radical, even though it is not a radical form of 艸. A few characters using ⻀ include 茍, 蘷, and 虁.
The Unicode encodings for the different forms are:
* normal character (艸) U+8278 in the CJK Unified Ideographs block
* full radical form (⾋) U+2F8B in the Kangxi Radicals block
* modern 3-stroke top radical (艹) U+8279 in the CJK Unified Ideographs block
* alternate 3-stroke top radical (䒑) U+4491 in the CJK Unified Ideographs block
* traditional 4-stroke double-cross top radical (艹) U+FA5E in the CJK Compatibility Ideographs block
* 4-stroke T-shape top radical (艹) U+FA5D in the CJK Compatibility Ideographs block
In Hong Kong, the stroke order for the traditional top radical of two crosses, is horizontal, vertical, horizontal, vertical, rather than the usual order of vertical, horizontal, horizontal, vertical.

### Han character

艹 (Kangxi radical 140, 艸+0, 4 strokes in traditional Chinese and Korean, 3 strokes in simplified Chinese and Japanese, cangjie input 十十 (JJ) or 難十十 (XJJ), composition ⿻十丨(GJ) or ⿻丨十(GJ) or ⿰⿻乀一𠂇(HT) or ⿰十十(K))
* radical number 140

#### Derived characters

* Appendix:Chinese radical/艸
* 㭉, 𠒌, 𦤅, 𧊝, 𧊬, 㗡, 塟, 韮, 𧊮, 𤰇, 繤, 爇, 繭

#### References

* Kangxi Dictionary: not present, would follow page 1017, character 1
* Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 30639
* Dae Jaweon: page 1475, character 7
* Hanyu Da Zidian (first edition): not present, would follow volume 5, page 3172, character 1
* Unihan data for U+8279
* Unihan data for U+FA5D
* Unihan data for U+FA5E

### Usage notes

In Hong Kong and Taiwan, characters not listed under radical 140 in the Kangxi dictionary such as 夢 (belonging to radical 夕) and 寬 (containing the component 卝 below the radical 宀) are written with the component 卝 (ore) instead of 艹 (grass).

## Chinese
### Pronunciation 1

* Mandarin
    (Pinyin): cǎo, cǎozìtóu (cao$^3$)
    (Zhuyin): ㄘㄠˇ, ㄘㄠˇ ㄗˋ ㄊㄡˊ
* Mandarin
** (Standard Chinese)
*** Hanyu Pinyin: cǎo
*** Zhuyin: ㄘㄠˇ
*** Tongyong Pinyin: cǎo
*** Wade–Giles: tsʻao$^3$
*** Yale: tsǎu
*** Gwoyeu Romatzyh: tsao
*** Palladius: цао (cao)
*** Sinological IPA : /t͡sʰɑʊ̯²¹⁴/
** (Standard Chinese)
*** Hanyu Pinyin: cǎozìtóu
*** Zhuyin: ㄘㄠˇ ㄗˋ ㄊㄡˊ
*** Tongyong Pinyin: cǎozìhtóu
*** Wade–Giles: tsʻao$^3$-tzŭ$^4$-tʻou$^2$
*** Yale: tsǎu-dz̀-tóu
*** Gwoyeu Romatzyh: tsaotzyhtour
*** Palladius: цаоцзытоу (caoczytou)
*** Sinological IPA : /t͡sʰɑʊ̯²¹⁴⁻²¹ t͡sz̩⁵¹ tʰoʊ̯³⁵/

#### Definitions

艹
* combining form of 艸.

### Pronunciation 2

* Mandarin
    (Pinyin): cǎo, cào (cao$^3$, cao$^4$)
    (Zhuyin): ㄘㄠˇ, ㄘㄠˋ
* Mandarin
** (Standard Chinese)
*** Hanyu Pinyin: cǎo
*** Zhuyin: ㄘㄠˇ
*** Tongyong Pinyin: cǎo
*** Wade–Giles: tsʻao$^3$
*** Yale: tsǎu
*** Gwoyeu Romatzyh: tsao
*** Palladius: цао (cao)
*** Sinological IPA : /t͡sʰɑʊ̯²¹⁴/
** (Standard Chinese)
*** Hanyu Pinyin: cào
*** Zhuyin: ㄘㄠˋ
*** Tongyong Pinyin: cào
*** Wade–Giles: tsʻao$^4$
*** Yale: tsàu
*** Gwoyeu Romatzyh: tsaw
*** Palladius: цао (cao)
*** Sinological IPA : /t͡sʰɑʊ̯⁵¹/

#### Definitions

艹
* (Internet slang, euphemistic) Alternative form of 肏 (“fuck”)

## Vietnamese
### Han character

艹: Hán Nôm readings: thảo

### Noun

艹
* chữ Hán form of thảo (“Kangxi radical 140 - ‘grass’ (top component)”).

#### Usage notes

Appears only as a radical.