塗 means “paint, spread, coat”

ぬる · nuru

Also: plaster, daub, smear

Kun'yomi (Japanese reading)

ぬる, ぬり, まみれる

On'yomi (Chinese reading)

ト

JLPT N2 · Taught in secondary school · 13 strokes

The story

Water (氵), a little extra (余) and earth (土): picture wet clay spread over a wall. 塗る is to paint or spread, butter on toast or cream on skin, and a sign reading ペンキ塗りたて means wet paint.

Used in 塗る (nuru, to paint/spread), 塗料 (toryou, paint), and 塗り絵 (nurie, coloring picture)

More from Kitchen & Chores

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• 燥 dry
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• 掃 sweep
• 喫 drink
• 干 dry
• 湯 hot water

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

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