矛 means “spear, halberd”

ほこ · hoko

Also: arms, festival float

Kun'yomi (Japanese reading)

ほこ

On'yomi (Chinese reading)

ム, ボウ

JLPT N1 · Taught in secondary school · 5 strokes

The story

A long-shafted spear with a hook at its side, drawn in five strokes: the 矛. In the old Chinese tale, a merchant swore his spear could pierce any shield and his shield could stop any spear, and the pair, 矛盾, became the word for contradiction.

Used in 矛盾 (mujun, contradiction) and 矛先 (hokosaki, spearhead/target of an attack)

More from Arms & the Hunt

• 釣 fish (with a line)
• 狩 hunt
• 弓 bow (archery)
• 猟 hunting (game)
• 捉 grasp
• 斬 slash
• 餌 bait
• 弾 bullet
• 射 shoot
• 獲 catch
• 銃 gun
• 甲 armor

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

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