Meaning & readings
fertilizer, get fat, fertile, manure, pamper
Origin
The character combines the flesh or body radical (月) on the left, which classifies this as a word about the physical body, with a sound hint (巴) on the right that suggests the "hi" pronunciation. The meaning evolved from describing the body becoming large or fat, to fertilizer that makes plants grow fat and fertile, then to the act of fattening or enriching soil. The connection between body fat and fertilizer both involve growth and richness, which is why this single character carries meanings ranging from personal weight gain to agricultural fertility.
AI-generated (claude-haiku-4-5), not yet reviewed. Formation type (automated guess): Phono-semantic (meaning + sound hint).
Components
- 月
- 巴
A sound hint component points at the character’s pronunciation, not its meaning — don’t read a meaning into it.
Common words
Reference
- Strokes
- 8
- Kangxi radical
- 130
- Grade
- Grade 5 (Kyōiku)
- Frequency rank
- #1469 (newspapers)
- Former JLPT
- level 1
- Unicode
- U+080A5