稻草
dào cǎo · HSK 7
straw
🌾 稻 (rice paddy) + 草 (grass) = the grassy stalks left after rice harvest
稻 means rice or paddy, 草 means grass or straw. Together they literally name the dried grass stems from rice plants — the stuff used for thatching, weaving, and the classic scarecrow stuffing.
草 — grass radical 艹 + 早 (zǎo, phonetic)
草 is a semantic-phonetic compound. The top 艹 (grass radical, derived from 艸) gives the meaning 'grass' or 'plant', while 早 underneath supplies the sound. Originally 草 referred to a specific plant and acorn-like fruit, but it shifted to mean grass and vegetation broadly, and by extension 'rough' or 'draft'.