Definitions

ráo fuel; grass

Etymology phono-semantic

grass

Semantic: Phonetic:

About

The character 荛, with its traditional form 蕘, consists of the grass radical 艹 and the phonetic component 尧, derived from 堯. Its etymology points to coarse plants or brushwood used for fuel, and the meaning also encompassed the act of collecting such materials. In classical contexts, it denoted firewood or fodder, and the simplification altered the phonetic element while the grass radical provides a semantic connection to vegetation.

Etymology Hide

Seal etymology image
Seal Shuowen (~100 AD)
Clerical etymology image
Clerical Western Han dynasty (202 BC-9 AD)
Traditional Modern
Simplified Modern