才

Etymology & Components

The Chinese character 才 (cái) is composed of two parts: the radical 艹 (cǎo), which represents grass or plants, and the phonetic component 才 (cái), which is a simplified form of the character 栽 (zāi), meaning "to plant." The combination of these two components suggests the idea of "growing" or "sprouting," which is the original meaning of the character.Over time, the meaning of 才 has expanded to include a wide range of related concepts, such as "ability," "talent," "skill," and "accomplishment." It can also be used as an adverb to mean "just," "only," or "recently." In addition, 才 is often used in combination with other characters to form compound words, such as 人才 (réncái, "talent"), 天才 (tiāncái, "genius"), and 本领 (běnlǐng, "skill").The character 才 is pronounced cái in Mandarin and coi3 in Cantonese. It is a common character that appears in a variety of texts, from ancient literature to modern newspapers. Understanding its etymology and various meanings can help learners of Chinese to better understand the language and culture.