牧 means “pasture, herd”

ぼく · boku

Also: breed, care for, shepherd, feed

Kun'yomi (Japanese reading)

まき

On'yomi (Chinese reading)

ボク

JLPT N1 · Taught in grade 4 · 8 strokes

The story

A cow (牛) beside a hand with a stick (攵): the Shuowen's picture of herding cattle. 牧場 is a farm or ranch, like the dairy farms of Hokkaido, 牧師 is a Protestant pastor, a shepherd of people, and 遊牧民 are nomads.

Used in 牧場 (bokujou, ranch/pasture), 牧師 (bokushi, pastor), and 遊牧 (yuuboku, nomadic herding)

More from Paddy & Pasture

• 飼 keep
• 壌 soil
• 培 cultivate
• 肥 fertilizer
• 俵 straw bale
• 栽 plant
• 拓 clear land
• 鎌 sickle
• 穫 harvest
• 穂 ear of grain
• 芽 bud
• 苗 seedling

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

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