草
cǎo · HSK 2
grass
🌿 草 = grass radical 艹 doubled; ancient form showed sprouting plants
The top 艹 is the grass radical (two tufts), and 早 below was originally a phonetic. Core sense is grass or herb; the 'female animal' sense is a later loan via dialectal 'cǎo' meaning rough or coarse stock.
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'.