The kanji 刈（かり） primarily means "to cut," "to reap," or "to mow," usually referring to the act of harvesting crops like rice or cutting grass with a tool. It implies a swift, decisive action of separating something from its base or stem.

・On-yomi (音読み): ガイ (gai) ・Kun-yomi (訓読み): 刈刈（か）る (karu)

⚫︎ 刈り取る Translation: To reap; to harvest. ⚫︎ 刈り入れ Translation: Harvesting (especially of rice). ⚫︎ 草刈り Translation: Mowing the lawn; grass cutting.

The kanji 刈（かり） is a phono-semantic compound (形声文字, keisei moji). The left side is a radical called "刀" (katana, sword) indicating "knife" or "blade", and the right side "乂" (gai, also pronounced as "あい") represents crossed lines, which might visually evoke the action of crossing a blade to cut or cross the stalks of plants for harvesting. The kanji combines the semantic element of a blade with a phonetic component suggesting sound. The meaning "to cut" derives from the function of the blade to cut something off or divide it.