荒
huāng · HSK 7
desolate
🌾🏜️ grass radical 艹 over 亡 lost + 川 river: wild overgrown land = desolate, barren
荒 — grass radical 艹 + 巟 (phonetic, 'vast/wild')
A semantic-phonetic compound: the grass radical 艹 on top gives the meaning of overgrown vegetation, while 巟 below supplies the sound and a sense of vast wildness. Originally it described land covered in wild weeds, then extended to 'wasteland,' 'desolate,' and figuratively 'absurd' or 'famine.'