The kanji 皐 generally refers to "rice paddy" or "new rice" specifically in the context of the early summer. It evokes imagery of lush, growing rice fields in the warmer months. It can also imply a sense of freshness and new beginnings, associated with the early harvest.

・On-yomi (音読み): こう (kō) ・Kun-yomi (訓読み): さつき (satsuki)

⚫︎皐月 (さつき) Translation: The fifth month of the year (May), the month of the new rice planting. This is the most common usage. ⚫︎皐月晴れ (さつきばれ) Translation: Fine weather in May; a sunny day in May. ⚫︎皐 (さつき)皐月の田 Translation: New rice field of May.

The kanji 皐 is a phono-semantic compound (形声文字). The left side is the radical "白" (shira, meaning "white") and the right side is the phonetic component "告" (koku, meaning "to tell" or "to announce"). The original meaning may have related to the whiteness of the rice blossoms in May when the rice is at a certain stage of growth. The "告" component lends the sound "kō" and the overall character came to represent new rice or May, which is associated with the harvest of the new rice crop.