墾 means “break ground, reclaim land”

こん · kon

Also: ground-breaking, open up farmland

Kun'yomi (Japanese reading)

はる, ひらく

On'yomi (Chinese reading)

コン

JLPT N1 · Taught in secondary school · 16 strokes

The story

Earth (土) under the same top as 懇: ground worked over and over. 墾 is breaking new land: 開墾 is clearing wilderness into fields, and history students memorize the 墾田永年私財法 of 743, which let whoever cleared new fields keep them for good.

Used in 開墾 (kaikon, clearing land for farming) and 墾田 (konden, newly cleared rice field)

More from Paddy & Pasture

• 沃 fertile
• 稲 rice plant
• 牧 pasture
• 飼 keep
• 壌 soil
• 培 cultivate
• 肥 fertilizer
• 俵 straw bale
• 栽 plant
• 拓 clear land
• 鎌 sickle
• 穫 harvest

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