穀 means “grain, cereal”

こく · koku

Also: cereals

On'yomi (Chinese reading)

コク

JLPT N1 · Taught in grade 6 · 14 strokes

The story

Grain (禾) tucked in on the left, a hand with a club (殳) on the right: picture threshing, beating the husks off. 穀物 are cereals, 雑穀米 is rice cooked with millet and barley, and shrines pray for 五穀豊穣, a rich harvest of the five grains.

Used in 穀物 (kokumotsu, grain/cereals), 雑穀 (zakkoku, millet and other grains), and 五穀豊穣 (gokoku houjou, bountiful harvest)

More from Paddy & Pasture

• 臼 mortar
• 墾 break ground
• 沃 fertile
• 稲 rice plant
• 牧 pasture
• 飼 keep
• 壌 soil
• 培 cultivate
• 肥 fertilizer
• 俵 straw bale
• 栽 plant
• 拓 clear land

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Readings from KANJIDIC2, © EDRDG, CC BY-SA.