葯
yào HSK2

Iris leaves

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

Components

艹
艹 Meaning component
cao, cǎo grass

艹 is a component form of 艸.

約
約 Sound component
yuē agreement

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagart'aewk[q]ˤrewk Iris leaves
'jak[q]ˤrewk Iris leaves

Sources

Character origin
漢語多功能字庫
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart

药 yào medicine Simplified

Phonosemantic compound. 艹 represents the meaning and 约 represents the sound. Simplified form of 藥.

Components

艹
艹 Meaning component
cao, cǎo grass

艹 is a component form of 艸.

约
约 Sound component
yuē agreement

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode