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

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