grass, weeds, herbs, pasture, write, draft
草 centers on low-growing green plants: grass, weeds, and herbs. The extended senses of pasture, writing, and drafting come from the idea of something rough or unpolished, like a field of wild grass or a preliminary sketch.
草 combines the grass radical 艹 with 早, which likely contributes the sound. The character originally referred to grass and plants, later gaining extended meanings like draft or rough version.
The top 艹 is a crown of grass, and the bottom 早 suggests something growing quickly. Picture a field of grass sprouting up fast: 草 is grass.
For ソウ, imagine a field of grass swaying in the wind, making a soft 'sow' sound: sow -> ソウ, like the whisper of grass.
grass; weed; herb; thatch
tobacco; cigarette; cigar
grassy field; grassland; meadow
gesture; movement; action; behavior; behaviour; bearing; mannerism
herbivorous; plant-eating; graminivorous
weed
spinach (Spinacia oleracea)
draft (for a speech, bill, etc.)
plants; vegetation
weeding
mowing; mower
pasture; grass
roots of grass; places hidden from sight
flower; flowering plant
zori; traditional Japanese thonged sandals
notes; draft; manuscript
pathfinder; trailblazer; early settler
loitering on the way
drafting (e.g. a bill); drawing up
highly cursive style (of writing Chinese characters); grass style
lawn; sod; turf
to get tired; to become exhausted; to grow weary