Trace Panda
■ radical

yào

drugs

How it’s built

Phonosemantic compound. 艹 represents the meaning and 樂 represents the sound.

艹
meaning

grass — 艹 is a component form of 艸.

樂
sound

happy; music — The pronunciation of 藥 was similar to 樂 in old Chinese, but they no longer sound similar in modern Mandarin due to historical phonetic changes.

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