芋

音読おんよみ: ウ

訓読くんよみ: いも

画数かくすう: 6

部首ぶしゅ: 艹（くさかんむり）

Meaning

Potato / Tuber / Yam / Taro.

  • 里芋さといも — taro
  • 芋虫いもむし — caterpillar (lit. “tuber worm”)
  • 芋焼酎いもじょうちゅう — shōchū distilled from sweet potatoes
  • 種芋たねいも — seed potato (tuber used for planting)
  • 芋づる式いもづるしき — “tuber-vine style”; one thing leads to another

芋 places the plant radical 艹 on top of the phonetic 于 (ウ). With the “plant” hint, the character singles out a specific edible plant part: the tuber.

里

Picture a country village (里) field full of plants (艹) — what you’re digging up are 芋, the tubers beneath the soil.

種
Forms

種芋たねいも — seed potato; tuber for planting the next crop

◀︎ Sayings+ ▶︎