() - An ancient Chinese spade-like farming tool, similar to

Tone 4

sì | 11 strokes | radical:

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An ancient Chinese spade-like farming tool, similar to a shovel or plowshare, used for tilling soil in early Chinese agriculture.

An ancient Chinese spade-like farming tool, similar to

Usage highlights

plow and spadestone spadewooden spadebone spadespade cultivationspade

Synonyms

  • shovel, spade
  • spade, shovel
  • plow

Usage & contexts

Examples

  • Archaeologists unearthed a stone farming implement (石耜).
  • This ancient tool was used for digging soil (耜耕).
  • The artifact resembles a primitive plowshare (耜形器).
  • Early agricultural tools included various digging implements (耒耜).

Collocations

  • plow and spade(耒耜)
  • stone spade(石耜)
  • wooden spade(木耜)
  • bone spade(骨耜)
  • spade cultivation(耜耕)
  • spade-shaped implement(耜形器)

Idioms

  • Plowing with plow and spade(耒耜之耕)
  • The hardship of farming with simple tools(耒耜之劳)
  • Ancient agricultural implements(古之耒耜)

Cultural background

FAQ
  • One of the earliest agricultural tools in ancient China, dating back to the Neolithic period.
  • Often paired with 耒 (lěi) as 耒耜, representing basic farming implements in early Chinese agriculture.
  • Symbolizes the dawn of Chinese civilization and the transition from hunting-gathering to settled agriculture.
  • Frequently mentioned in classical texts describing early agricultural practices and tools.

FAQ