The kanji 穀 primarily means "grain," "cereal," or "crops." It refers to the edible seeds of cultivated plants, essential for food production. It can also encompass the harvest from these plants.

・On-yomi (音読み): コク (koku) ・Kun-yomi (訓読み): None, as the meaning is generally conveyed by the on-yomi in compound words.

⚫︎ 穀物 (kokumotsu) Translation: Grain; cereals ⚫︎ 五穀 (gokoku) Translation: The five grains (traditionally: rice, wheat, millet, beans, and foxtail millet, though the specific grains can vary) ⚫︎ 食糧 (shokuryō) Translation: Food; provisions; especially related to grain and staples

The kanji 穀 is a phono-semantic compound (形声文字, けいせいもじ). ⚫︎ The semantic component is 禾 (kome), meaning "grain" or "rice plant," which gives the character its meaning related to crops. ⚫︎ The phonetic component is 告 (koku), which contributes the sound "koku." The combination of the semantic and phonetic components suggests that the character originally represented the sound of a verbal announcement, hence "koku" with the meaning "grain". The shape of the character itself evolved over time, but the relationship between the components has remained the same.