墾
Mnemonic
A badger burrows into untamed earth, loosening dense roots. A footballer kicks away massive soil clods like penalty shots. This unlikely duo performs the most Ground-Breaking land reclamation ever seen—wild terrain turned to fertile fields by claw and cleat.
Additional thoughts
Picture the badger's powerful claws ripping through packed soil while the footballer boots enormous dirt chunks downfield. Claw + kick = ground broken. The earth radical sits at the base of the kanji, literally grounding the whole character.Quick recall
A badger claws raw earth while a footballer kicks clods away—Ground-Breaking teamwork.Details
The keyword for 墾 is ground-breaking. This kanji refers to the act of breaking new ground, specifically the clearing and cultivating of previously unused or wild land for agricultural purposes. It conveys the laborious process of turning uncultivated earth into farmable soil, as in land reclamation or pioneering new fields. The character carries a strong sense of hard physical effort directed at transforming raw terrain into productive land.
- On'yomi
- こん
- Kun'yomi
- は.る、ひら.く