艹 Grass / plants

Meaning and position

Meaning: grass, plants

Where it sits: Top of the character.

Tea and plants

茶 has the grass crown. Flower and vegetable characters often do too.

A top 艹 is easy to spot once you look up. Use it as a first-pass guess: plant, herb, or tea.

菜 “dish / vegetable” wears 艹. Restaurant menus become slightly less opaque.

Writing

艹 is a horizontal with two short verticals in simplified print. Keep it shallow so the rest of the character fits.

Do not turn it into a roof 宀 (the “roof” radical). Grass sits flatter.

Learn 茶 and 菜 as spoken words, then confirm the crown.

Example characters

Takeaways

• Top 艹 often means plant.
• 茶 and 菜 are the first payoffs.
• Keep grass flatter than a roof radical.