耕 means “till, plow, cultivate”

たがやす · tagayasu

Kun'yomi (Japanese reading)

たがやす

On'yomi (Chinese reading)

コウ

JLPT N2 · Taught in grade 5 · 10 strokes

The story

A plow (耒) beside 井, shaped like a grid of fields: soil turned over row by row. 耕す is to till, and the old saying 晴耕雨読, plow when it's sunny and read when it rains, is the Japanese picture of a quiet retirement in the country.

Used in 耕す (tagayasu, to till), 耕作 (kousaku, cultivation), and 農耕 (noukou, farming)

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