堆 means “pile, heap”

たい · tai

Also: piled high

Kun'yomi (Japanese reading)

うずたかい

On'yomi (Chinese reading)

タイ, ツイ

JLPT N1 · Taught in secondary school · 11 strokes

The story

Earth (土) beside a short-tailed bird (隹): picture birds perched on a heap of soil. 堆 is a pile: 堆肥 is compost, and 堆積 is layer on layer building up, the sand and mud that harden into rock over the ages.

Used in 堆積 (taiseki, deposition/accumulation) and 堆肥 (taihi, compost)

More from Grow & Wane

• 旺 flourishing
• 耗 wear down
• 勃 sudden rise
• 展 unfold
• 張 stretch
• 拡 expand
• 盛 heap up
• 興 interest
• 縮 shrink
• 充 fill
• 隆 rise
• 茂 grow thick

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

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