田 means “rice field”

た · ta

Also: rice paddy

Kun'yomi (Japanese reading)

た

On'yomi (Chinese reading)

デン

JLPT N4 · Taught in grade 1 · 5 strokes

The story

Four paddies divided by raised footpaths, drawn exactly as they look from a hillside. 田 feeds half the surnames in Japan (Tanaka "in the field," Yamada "mountain field") because rice was wealth.

Used in 田んぼ (tanbo, rice paddy), 田中 (tanaka, the surname Tanaka), and 田舎 (inaka, countryside)

More from Town & Country

• 県 prefecture
• 台 stand
• 住 dwell
• 建 build
• 館 hall
• 林 grove
• 洋 ocean
• 京 capital

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