How to Write 耩 (jiǎng) — Meaning “to sow with a drill”

Picture a plow (耒) with a drill bit attached on its right side (冓 looks like a drill frame). Imagine the plow pulling the drill through the field, dropping seeds as it goes — that's the action of sowing with a drill.

The left part 耒 has 6 strokes — write the horizontal strokes from top to bottom, then the vertical stroke. The right part 冓 has 10 strokes — be careful to write the central '田' shape correctly and don't confuse the bottom hooks. A common mistake is making the right side too wide or misplacing the central vertical stroke.

耩 (jiǎng) means to sow seeds using a drill, while 耤 (jí) is an ancient word for plowing fields and is rarely used today. 耥 (tǎng) means to harrow or level soil, not to sow. Visually, 耩 has 冓 on the right, 耤 has 耤 with a different right side (like 昔), and 耥 has 尚 on the right.

耩 is a technical farming word mostly found in northern Chinese dialects, referring to the use of a seed drill (耩子) to plant crops. You might hear it in phrases like 耩地 (sow the field) or 耩种 (sow seeds). It is not common in everyday conversation but appears in agricultural manuals or rural contexts.

Common words containing 耩 include: 耩地 (jiǎng dì) — to sow the field with a drill; 耩种 (jiǎng zhǒng) — to sow seeds with a drill; 耩子 (jiǎng zi) — seed drill; planter.