药 yào medicine; drug; to poison
Made up of [艹 cǎo grass; herb radical 140]Alternative traditional form of character: 藥
Made with 9 strokes.
Original showed medicinal herbs giving harmony. The modern form has 'restrain' under the 'grass/herb' radical suggesting alleviate illness
Related characters
Also uses 艹 cǎo component: 菜 cài (vegetable) 草 cǎo (grass) ; 茶 chá (tea) ; 懂 dǒng (to understand) ; 花 huā (flower) ; 节 jié (joint) ; 苦 kǔ (bitter) ; 蓝 lán (blue) ; 劳 láo (to toil) ; 满 mǎn (to fill) ; 猫 māo (cat) ; 蒙 měng (Mongol) ; 莫 mò (do not) ; 苹 píng (apple) ; 葡 pú (grape) ; 前 qián (front) ; 若 ruò (to seem) ; 苏 sū (revive) ; 萄 táo (grapes) ; 艺 yì (skill) ; 英 yīng (flower) ; 藏 zàng (treasury) ; 蒸 zhēng (to steam)
Sounds same
要 yào (want)Different tone
幺 yāo (youngest) ; 咬 yǎo (to bite)Pronunciation
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Proverbs
对症下药 duì zhèng xià yào Take the right measures to solve a problem to achieve the desired result换汤不换药 huàn tāng bú huàn yaò Not getting to the root of a problem, making superficial changes
苦口良药 kǔ kǒu liáng yaò It takes hard work and discomfort to achieve something worthwhile