粪草
fèn​cǎo

manure compost

粪 fèn manure Simplified

Original meaning: to clean up

Depicts two hands (廾) using a dustpan (其) to sweep away garbage or feces. Based on the original meaning "to clean up". The meaning later shifted to "manure".

Components

米
米 Iconic component
mǐ rice

Used here to depict garbage or feces.

其
其 Iconic component
qí its, his, (3p possessive)

Depicts a dustpan.

Change in form
Due to historical stylistic changes, this component is less similar to 其 than it was in ancient scripts.
廾
廾 Iconic component
gǒng two hands
Change in form
Due to historical stylistic changes, this component is less similar to 廾 than it was in ancient scripts.

Sources

Character origin
季旭昇《說文新證》p.314漢語多功能字庫
Readings & variants
Unicode

草 cǎo grass

Phonosemantic compound. 艹 represents the meaning and 早 represents the sound.

Components

艹
艹 SoundMeaning component
cao, cǎo grass

艹 is a component form of 艸.

早
早 Sound component
zǎo early

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Qin 221-206 BC
Clerical form
Clerical Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagarttshawX[tsʰ]ˤuʔ grass, plants
tshawX[tsʰ]ˤuʔ rough, coarse

說文解字

草斗，櫟實也。一曰象斗子。从艸早聲。

Sources

Character origin
漢語多功能字庫
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart
Historical images
Academia Sinica
Etymology
Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)

糞 fèn manure Traditional

Original meaning: to clean up

Depicts two hands (廾) using a dustpan (其) to sweep away garbage or feces. Based on the original meaning "to clean up". The meaning later shifted to "manure".

Components

米
米 Iconic component
mǐ rice

Used here to depict garbage or feces.

其
其 Iconic component
qí its, his, (3p possessive)

Depicts a dustpan.

Change in form
Due to historical stylistic changes, this component is less similar to 其 than it was in ancient scripts.
廾
廾 Iconic component
gǒng two hands
Change in form
Due to historical stylistic changes, this component is less similar to 廾 than it was in ancient scripts.

Character Evolution

Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Qin 221-206 BC
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (0 of 1 verified)

瀵

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartpjunHp[u]r-s manure, dirt

說文解字

《說文》：“糞，棄除也。从廾推糞采也。官溥說：似米而非米者，矢字。”

Sources

Character origin
季旭昇《說文新證》p.314漢語多功能字庫
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart
Historical images
Academia Sinica
Etymology
Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)