huāng

desolate

shortage; scarce; out of practice; absurd; uncultivated; to neglect

wild grass (芒) + river (川) = desolate, uncultivated land

芒 evokes rank, untamed grass spreading without check. 川 mainly lends the sound huāng; together they conjure land gone wild and unworked.

+
RiverPhonetic
Awn of grainSemantic

这片土地了很多年,没有人耕种。

zhè piàn tǔ dì huāng le hěn duō nián, méi yǒu rén gēng zhòng。

This piece of land has been uncultivated for many years, with no one farming it.

他好久没练琴,手都了。

tā hǎo jiǔ méi liàn qín, shǒu dōu huāng le。

He hasn't practiced the piano for a long time, and his skills have gone rusty.

Words with 荒

遐荒

xiá huāng

out-of-the-way places

开荒

kāi huāng

to open up land (for agriculture)

电荒

diàn huāng

shortage of electricity

饥荒

jī huāng

crop failure

碱荒

jiǎn huāng

alkali wasteland

备荒

bèi huāng

to prepare against natural disasters

兵荒马乱

bīng huāng mǎ luàn

(idiom) war-torn; ravaged by war; in a state of utter chaos

凶荒

xiōng huāng

(literary) famine

剧荒

jù huāng

(neologism c. 2016) no tv shows to watch

包荒

bāo huāng

to be tolerant

北大荒

běi dà huāng

the Great Northern Wilderness (in Northern China)

丧荒

sāng huāng

funerals and famines

More characters with 芒