肥 means “fertilizer, fat, fertile”

ひ · hi

Also: get fat, manure

Kun'yomi (Japanese reading)

こえる, こえ, こやす, こやし, ふとる

On'yomi (Chinese reading)

ヒ

JLPT N1 · Taught in grade 5 · 8 strokes

The story

Flesh (月) beside 巴, the swirl of the tomoe crest on taiko drums: picture a belly rounding out. 肥満 is obesity, 肥料 is fertilizer to fatten the soil, and someone whose 目が肥えている has a refined, discerning eye.

Used in 肥料 (hiryou, fertilizer), 肥満 (himan, obesity), and 肥える (koeru, to grow fat/fertile/discerning)

More from Paddy & Pasture

• 俵 straw bale
• 栽 plant
• 拓 clear land
• 鎌 sickle
• 穫 harvest
• 穂 ear of grain
• 芽 bud
• 苗 seedling
• 刈 cut
• 穀 grain
• 臼 mortar
• 墾 break ground

Learn 肥 and more kanji free on Fuji Learning · All kanji

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