薪 means “firewood”

まき · maki

Also: fuel, kindling

Kun'yomi (Japanese reading)

たきぎ, まき

On'yomi (Chinese reading)

シン

JLPT N1 · Taught in secondary school · 16 strokes

The story

Plants (艹) over 新, an axe (斤) beside wood (木): freshly split fuel. 薪 is firewood, stacked under the eaves of country houses, and read たきぎ it lights 薪能, Noh plays staged outdoors at night by firelight.

Used in 薪 (maki, firewood), 薪能 (takiginou, Noh by firelight), and 臥薪嘗胆 (gashin shoutan, enduring hardship for a goal)

More from Fire & Flood

• 氾 overflow
• 濫 overflow
• 災 disaster
• 炎 flame
• 噴 erupt
• 炉 hearth
• 惨 miserable
• 墜 crash
• 遭 meet with (trouble)
• 洪 flood

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

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