拓 means “clear land, open up”
たく · taku
Also: clear (the land), open, break up (land)
- Kun'yomi (Japanese reading)
- ひらく
- On'yomi (Chinese reading)
- タク
JLPT N1 · Taught in secondary school · 8 strokes
The story
A hand (扌) shifting stones (石): clearing rocky ground. 開拓 is opening new land, as settlers did in Hokkaido, or a new market; 拓 is also a rubbing, so a 魚拓 is an ink print an angler takes of a prize fish.
Used in 開拓 (kaitaku, development/pioneering), 干拓 (kantaku, reclaiming land by draining), and 魚拓 (gyotaku, ink print of a fish)
More from Paddy & Pasture
- 鎌 sickle
- 穫 harvest
- 穂 ear of grain
- 芽 bud
- 苗 seedling
- 刈 cut
- 穀 grain
- 臼 mortar
- 墾 break ground
- 沃 fertile
- 稲 rice plant
- 牧 pasture
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Readings from KANJIDIC2, © EDRDG, CC BY-SA.