锄 (chú): hoe (farming tool)

Measure Word

一把锄 bǎ

Meanings

1 hoe (farming tool)
2 to hoe / weed
3 to root out / eliminate

Characters

锄

chú

hoe / to hoe / to root out

Examples

HSK 6

我们要锄掉田里的杂草。

Wǒmen yào chú diào tiánlǐ de zácǎo.

We need to hoe out the weeds in the field.

HSK 7-9

他扛着锄去地里干活。

Tā káng zhe chú qù dì lǐ gànhuó.

He carried his hoe out to the fields to work.

HSK 7-9

锄强扶弱是侠客的本分。

Chúqiáng-fúruò shì xiákè de běnfèn.

Rooting out the strong and aiding the weak is a knight-errant's duty.

Tips

culture

Famous in the poem 《悯农》 ('Sympathy for the Peasants') by Tang poet Li Shen 李绅: 锄禾日当午，汗滴禾下土 - 'hoeing grain when the sun is high, sweat drips into the soil beneath the rice.' Most Chinese kids learn this poem in primary school.

memory

钅 (metal) radical + 助 (help) → a metal tool that helps the farmer.

Components

radical

钅 jīn

metal (radical form of 金)

Side-metal radical on the left - compressed five-stroke form of 金 reformed in 1956. Indexes 锄 in the metal-tool family with 锅 pot, 锤 hammer, 镰 sickle, 铁 iron. 锄 names the iron-bladed hoe used to break up soil and weed crops, so the metal radical names the blade-stuff doing the digging.

phonetic

助 zhù

to help; to assist

Right side 助 supplies the sound - zhù shifted to chú through Old-Chinese sound change. 助 itself ('to help, with strength') adds a memorable semantic echo: the hoe is the farmer's helper, the iron friend that lightens the back-breaking work in the field. A neat sound-and-sense overlay.