The kanji 掘 (ほる) primarily means "to dig," "to excavate," or "to unearth." It refers to the act of removing material, such as soil or rocks, to create a hole or cavity in the ground. It can also imply finding something by digging or searching.

・On-yomi (音読み): ・クツ (kutsu) ・Kun-yomi (訓読み): ・ほ掘る (ho[掘]ru) - to dig

⚫︎掘る Translation: to dig ⚫︎発掘 (はっくつ) Translation: excavation; discovery; unearthing ⚫︎採掘 (さいくつ) Translation: mining

The kanji 掘 is a phono-semantic compound (形声文字, keisei moji). The semantic component is 扌(て), "hand", which provides the meaning. The phonetic component is 屈 (くつ, kutsu), which is borrowed for its sound. It illustrates the action of digging with the hand, forming a character about the act of digging. The left part shows that this action needs to be done with hands.