How to Write 耔 (zǐ) — Meaning “To hoe up soil around plants”

Imagine a farmer using a plow (耒) to tuck a little seed (子) snugly into the soil — the seed looks like a small child being covered with dirt for protection. This visual of the plow covering the "seed child" helps you remember both the shape and the meaning of hilling soil around plants.

Pay attention to the left radical 耒: it has two horizontal strokes at the top, then a vertical, another horizontal, a left-falling stroke, and a final dot — write it narrow and balanced. The right side 子 starts with a horizontal hook (not a separate horizontal line) followed by a vertical hook and a horizontal stroke; a common mistake is making the 耒 too wide or forgetting the dot at the bottom of 耒.

All three share the 耒 radical, but 耕 (gēng) means to plow the field (right side 井 represents a well-shaped land), 耖 (chào) means to harrow or level soil (right side 少 suggests small breaking), and 耔 specifically means to hoe soil up around plants (right side 子 indicates the plants). Visually, 耔 has the distinctive 子 component, while 耕 uses 井 and 耖 uses 少.

耔 is rarely used alone today; it mostly appears in classical agricultural terms like 耘耔 (weeding and hilling) or literary descriptions of farming. It reflects traditional Chinese farming practices where soil is mounded around crop roots for stability and weed control, so you might encounter it in historical texts or poetry about rural life.

Common words containing 耔 include: 培耔 (péi zǐ) — to bank up soil and hoe weeds; 耔土 (zǐ tǔ) — To bank up soil around plants; 耘耔 (yún zǐ) — To weed and hill up soil.