耒 (lěi) · ancient wooden plough handle; primitive tilling tool

Meanings

1 ancient wooden plough handle; primitive tilling tool
2 farming implement, often paired with 耜 (sì, the share)

Characters

耒

lěi

ancient plough handle

Examples

HSK 7-9

古人用耒耜耕田。

Gǔrén yòng lěi sì gēngtián.

The ancients tilled fields with the lei and si ploughs.

HSK 7-9

神农氏发明了耒耜。

Shén nóng shì fāmíng le lěi sì.

Shennong is credited with inventing the lei and si tilling tools.

Tips

history

耒 names the bent wooden handle of the earliest Chinese ploughs; 耜 is the metal or stone share fitted to its tip. The compound 耒耜 (lěisì) is a stock literary phrase for 'farming tools'. Tradition credits the legendary emperor 神农 (Shennong) with their invention.

usage

Outside set phrases like 耒耜 the character is rare. As a radical it tags a small group of agricultural verbs: 耕 (plough), 耘 (weed), 耙 (harrow / rake), 耗 (consume / waste, originally exhaust through farming).

Components

pictograph

耒 lěi

wooden plough handle

耒 is a pictograph of an ancient plough - a curved wooden shaft with two prongs at the foot for breaking soil, gripped at the upper end. As its own indexing radical it lends "tilling, ploughing, farming" to 耕 plough, 耙 rake, 耘 weed, 耧 seed-drill.

Radical

Plough Kangxi #127

Small radical group with a tight semantic field: primitive ploughing and field labour. Productivity is modest: 耕, 耘, 耙, 耗 are the everyday compounds. Reliable meaning clue for agricultural verbs, though most learners only meet 耒 once they reach classical or specialised vocabulary.