The kanji character 育 primarily conveys the meaning of "to raise," "to nurture," "to bring up," or "to cultivate." It encompasses the idea of growth, development, and care, often applied to children, plants, or ideas. It suggests a process of fostering something to maturity.

・On-yomi (音読み): いく (iku) ・Kun-yomi (訓読み): そだ（つ） (soda(tsu)), はぐく（む）(haguku(mu))

⚫︎教育 (kyouiku) Translation: Education ⚫︎育児 (ikuji) Translation: Childcare; child-rearing ⚫︎育つ (sodatsu) Translation: To grow up; to be raised

The kanji 育 is a 形声文字 (keisei moji), a phono-semantic compound character. The left side is the radical ⺾ (grass radical), which is a simplified form of 艸 (くさ, kusa, grass). The right side is 育, which contains the meaning of "to grow." Together, the character conveys the idea of nourishing or growing plants, which then extended to include raising children and cultivating things in general. The original form depicts a growing plant.