yào

medicine

Phonosemantic compound. represents the meaning and represents the sound.

Components
艹 meaning component

  Meaning component

caocǎo

  

grass

is a component form of .

樂 sound component

  Sound component

yuè

  

happy, music

Evolution

藥 Bronze script Late Western Zhou (~800 BC)

Bronze script

Late Western Zhou (~800 BC)
藥 Seal script Shuowen (~100 AD)

Seal script

Shuowen (~100 AD)
藥 Clerical script Western Jin dynasty (266-316 AD)

Clerical script

Western Jin dynasty (266-316 AD)
藥 Regular script Modern

Regular script

Modern
Definitions

() 

yào

drugs, pharmaceuticals, medicine; medicine; drug; substance used for a specific purpose (e.g. poisoning, explosion, fermenting); CL:|[zhǒng],[fù],[wèi]; to poison

Most common words with 藥
Freq.
Word
Meaning

drug

药物

medicaments

药品

medicaments

医药

medical

中药

(traditional) Chinese medicine