The kanji 茎 primarily means "stem" or "stalk," referring to the main supporting structure of a plant that connects the roots to the leaves, flowers, and fruits. It represents the central axis of a plant and conveys the idea of support and growth.

・On-yomi (音読み): kei (ケイ) ・Kun-yomi (訓読み): 茎 (kuki)

⚫︎ 花の茎 Translation: Flower stem ⚫︎ 野菜の茎 Translation: Vegetable stalk ⚫︎ 茎が細い Translation: The stem is thin

The kanji 茎 is a phono-semantic compound (形声文字, keisei moji). The left side is a component from 艸 (くさ, kusa), meaning "grass" or "plant". The right side is 丮, which is a variant of 丰 (ほう, hou), and originally it looked like two hands holding something up. Putting those together represents a plant being held up. Therefore, the character conveys the idea of the stem or stalk supporting the plant, growing upwards.