Example sentences
jì记de得chī吃yào药。
Remember to take your medicine.
zhè这yào药yī一tiān天chī吃sān三cì次。
Take this medicine three times a day.
The story behind the character
药
药 is 艹 (grass) with 约 below to supply the sound. The older form 藥 had 樂 (music) under the grass instead. Xu Shen's definition was blunt: 藥，治病艸也, the herb that cures sickness. Medicine was a plant you went out and picked. The simplified version dropped the music and kept the grass.