くさかんむり
くさかんむり
noun
the "grass crown" radical (艹); top kanji radical for plants
1.
the kanji radical {艹|くさかんむり} ("grass crown"), placed above the rest of a character
The 艹 radical is a stylized form of 草 ("grass"), placed across the top (冠) of many kanji. It indicates a connection with grasses, plants, or vegetation. Examples include 花 ("flower"), 草 ("grass"), 茶 ("tea"), and 葉 ("leaf").
「花」はくさかんむりだ。
"{花|はな}" has the grass-crown radical.
くさかんむりの漢字は植物に関係がある。
Kanji with the grass-crown radical are related to plants.
「茶」も「薬」もくさかんむりが付いている。
Both "{茶|ちゃ}" and "{薬|くすり}" have the grass-crown radical.
先生は「くさかんむりが上にあれば、たいてい植物と関係があると覚えていい」と言った。
The teacher said, "You can remember that if there's a grass-crown radical on top, it's usually related to plants."
くさかんむり is the name of the kanji radical 艹, which is a stylized form of 草 ("grass") placed across the top of many kanji. Most kanji that carry くさかんむり have meanings tied to plants, herbs, flowers, or other vegetation, making it a useful clue for guessing meaning when learning new kanji.
FORMATION:
- 草 ("grass") + ~かんむり (冠, "top-of-character radical")
COMMON KANJI WITH くさかんむり:
- 花: flower
- 草: grass
- 葉: leaf
- 茶: tea
- 薬: medicine (originally derived from medicinal herbs)
- 菜: vegetable / greens
- 若い: young (originally a plant-shoot image)
- 苦しい: painful (using 古 phonetic + 艹)
RELATED RADICAL TERMS:
- 冠: top-of-character radical (the position name; also うかんむり 宀, あめかんむり 雨, etc.)
- てへん: "hand" left-side radical (扌)
- さんずい: "three drops of water" left-side radical (氵)
- きへん: "tree" left-side radical (木)
- 部首: kanji radical (the general term)
USAGE NOTES:
- The shape of くさかんむり is now usually written with three strokes (艹) in modern textbooks, although older forms wrote it with four strokes (艸 / ⺿). Both are recognized as the same radical.
- A common mnemonic for learners is to remember the meaning "plant" whenever they see くさかんむり on top of an unfamiliar kanji.