草

1. Origins, structure, and basic meaning

• Structure: The one-character noun 草 is read くさ and can refer to grass collectively or to individual grassy or weedy plants.
• Basic usage: It ranges from grass cut collectively in a garden to slender plants growing individually between stones.

2. Common pitfalls and similar expressions

• Grass versus weeds
  • In a garden, 草を刈る may involve weeds, but 草 does not inherently mean unwanted plants in every context.
• With が and を
  • 草を刈る marks the grass as what is cut; 草が伸びる makes the grass the thing that grows.