紫草

Mandarin · pinyin zǐ cǎo

Meanings

  1. red root gromwell (Lithospermum erythrorhizon)
  2. flowering plant whose roots provide purple dye
  3. arnebia (plant genus in family Boraginaceae)
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Characters in this entry

紫
zǐ · purple, violet; amethyst; surname
草
cǎo · grass, straw, thatch, herbs
Written characters and their own readings; the entry’s pronunciation is shown above.

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Mandarin tones

3–3 · zi3 cao3

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Wiktionary English definitions · Chinese section

Independent source senses for this spelling, with usage labels retained. Not matched to the pronunciation above.

noun

  1. red-root gromwell (Lithospermum erythrorhizon)

Source page · dump 2026-09-02 · Contributors & history

Wiktionary contributors · CC BY-SA 4.0 · source & license · Data pack

紫草 · zi3 cao3
CC-CEDICT contributors and MDBG · edition 2026-10-13 · source line 85,314
Original dictionary · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Source & transformation details
Exact source record紫草 紫草 [zi3 cao3] /red root gromwell (Lithospermum erythrorhizon)/flowering plant whose roots provide purple dye/arnebia (plant genus in family Boraginaceae)/