穀

Traditionally analyzed as a phono-semantic compound:

禾 (“grain, rice plant”) — semantic element.

殼 (gak / kè, “husk, shell”) — phonetic element, also suggesting the idea of a grain with husk.

Some scholars interpret 穀 as an ideogram: combining 禾 (grain) with 殼 (husk/shell), thus “grain in its husk.”

穀物 (곡물) — cereal grains

五穀 (오곡) — the Five Grains (staple crops in Chinese tradition)

穀食 (곡식) — food, cereals

穀倉 (곡창) — granary, breadbasket

穀雨 (곡우) — Grain Rain (solar term marking sowing season)

In East Asian agrarian culture, 穀 symbolizes sustenance, abundance, and livelihood.

The concept of 五穀 (Five Grains) is central to Chinese, Korean, and Japanese ritual culture, representing the staples that sustain life.

In some classical contexts, 穀 also came to mean food in general or harvest abundance.

In Japanese shinjitai, 穀 is simplified by omitting one horizontal stroke above 禾.

Must not be confused with 榖 (U+6996, “paper mulberry”), which uses 木 (“tree”) as its radical and writes the top stroke as a single line.