(of plants) withered

(of wells, rivers etc) dried up; (bound form) dull; boring; (bound form) residue of pressed oilseeds

tree (木) + old (古) = withered and dried up

A tree that has grown ancient and weathered eventually loses its sap and dries out. The pairing captures how age drains vitality from living things.

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OldSemantic
TreeSemantic

秋天到了,院子里的花都了。

qiū tiān dào le, yuàn zi lǐ de huā dōu kū le.

Autumn has come, and all the flowers in the yard have withered.

今年雨水太少,这条小河都了。

jīn nián yǔ shuǐ tài shǎo, zhè tiáo xiǎo hé dōu kū le.

There was too little rain this year, and even this small river has dried up.

Words with 枯

黑枯茗

hēi kū míng

black cumin (Nigella sativa)

干枯

gān kū

withered; shriveled; dried-up

冢中枯骨

zhǒng zhōng kū gǔ

dried bones in burial mound (idiom); dead and buried

巴枯宁主义

bā kū níng zhǔ yì

Bakuninism, the political and social theories associated with the Russian revolutionary and anarchist Mikhail Bakunin (1814–1876)

搜索枯肠

sōu suǒ kū cháng

to rack one's brains (for apt wording etc) (idiom)

枯草杆菌

kū cǎo gǎn jūn

bacillus subtilis

枯草热

kū cǎo rè

hay fever

枯干

kū gān

dried up; shriveled; withered

枯寂

kū jì

bleak; desolate; devoid of liveliness

枯木

kū mù

dead tree

枯木逢春

kū mù féng chūn

lit. the spring comes upon a withered tree (idiom)

枯朽

kū xiǔ

withered and rotten

More characters with 木