In this episode of our Chinese character culture podcast, we explore the two core characters of plants: "mù" (tree/wood) and "cǎo" (grass). We start with the simple but powerful rule of ancient Chinese character creation: two of the same part means "some", three means "lots"! That explains the forest characters, the grass characters, and so much more! We uncover how the single character "tree" gave birth to a whole family of words: from "rest" (a person under a tree) to "origin" (the root of the tree) to "end" (the top of the tree), and even the "not yet" tree that explains taste, sister, hidden, and charm! Then we dive into the grass radical, and the character "mò" where the sun hides in the grass, which explains desert, sunset, curtain, admiration, recruitment, and tomb! Perfect for Chinese learners who want to understand the logic behind all those common plant-related characters! 木 mù tree/wood 核心汉字，甲骨文为树的象形，是整个汉字家族的源头 林 lín forest 两个木，代表一些树，就是树林 森 sēn dense forest 三个木，代表很多树，就是森林 休 xiū rest 人 + 木，人在树下休息，就是休息的意思 本 běn origin 木的下方加一横，指树根，代表根本、本来 末 mò end 木的上方加一横，指树梢，代表末端、末尾 未 wèi not yet 还没长大的树，代表还没、未来 味 wèi taste 未 + 口，还没尝过的味道 妹 mèi younger sister 未 + 女，还没长大的女孩子，就是妹妹 昧 mèi hide 未 + 日，太阳被挡住，代表隐藏、隐瞒 魅 mèi charm 未 + 鬼，隐藏的鬼，代表有吸引力的魅力 艹 cǎo grass 草字头，甲骨文为两棵小草的象形 卉 huì flowers and plants 两个草，代表一些草，就是花草 茻 mǎng lots of grass 四个草，代表很多很多草 莫 mò no 两个草 + 日，太阳落到草里，代表没有、不要 漠 mò desert 莫 + 水，没有水的地方，就是沙漠 暮 mù sunset 莫 + 日，太阳落到草里，就是日暮、日落 幕 mù curtain 莫 + 巾，布挡住东西，就是帷幕、幕布 慕 mù admire 莫 + 心，想要没有的东西，就是羡慕 募 mù recruit 莫 + 力，寻找没有的人，就是招募、募捐 墓 mù tomb 莫 + 土，人没了埋在土里，就是墓地