About
The character "荼" originally denoted a bitter plant, with its structure incorporating the grass radical to indicate its botanical nature and the component "余" primarily serving a phonetic role. Its early semantic scope covered various bitter herbs, including the plant that would later be specifically known as tea, a usage that led to the deliberate alteration of the character by removing one horizontal stroke to form the distinct graph "茶" dedicated to that beverage. This separation enabled "荼" to solidify its association with bitterness, a meaning extended into classical idioms such as "荼毒" to convey metaphorical cruelty or poison. While the term for tea became exclusively associated with its new form, "荼" persisted in literary contexts to reference bitter vegetation, demonstrating a semantic specialization over time without substantive change to its graphical composition.
Etymology Hide
Example Sentences Hide
暴力游戏荼毒儿童。
不良信息荼毒青少年。
院子里的荼蘼花开了。
网络谣言荼毒社会风气。
这种毒素荼毒人体健康。
战争荼毒了无数平民的生活。
那些极端思想荼毒了年轻人的心灵。
尽管有法律法规禁止，这种有害文化依然荼毒着脆弱社区。