Shen Collection, Upper Volume Radical: Grass (cǎo) Gǎo Kangxi stroke count: 14 Page 1037, Entry 28 Pronounced gǎo. In Records of the Classes of Characters (Leipian), it means straw or stubble. In Discourses of the States (Qiyu), when the cold arrives, one strikes the dry grass and clears the field, to wait for the time to plow. Annotation: Gao refers to withered grass.