堀
ditch, moat, canal
Readings
On'yomi
- クツ
Kun'yomi
- ほり
Nanori
- ほっ
Meaning
堀 centers on a dug-out channel for water: a ditch, moat, or canal. All three meanings are specific types of excavated waterways.
Most common words using 堀
- 堀ほりN3
moat; fosse
- 堀江ほりえ
canal
- 堀川ほりかわ
canal
- 外堀そとぼり
outer moat (of a castle)
- 堀切りほりきり
man-made water channel (e.g. round a castle); artificial trench; moat
- 釣り堀つりぼり
fish pond (artificially stocked); fishing pond
- 深堀りふかぼり
digging deeply (below the surface); mining deep
- 内堀うちぼり
inner moat; moat within the castle walls
- 空堀からぼり
dry moat
- 堀端ほりばた
side of a moat
- 堀割ほりわり
canal; waterway; ditch
- 堀散らすほりちらす
to dig up messily
- 外堀が埋まるそとぼりがうまる
to be clear of obstacles in the way of one's objective
- 外堀を埋めるそとぼりをうめる
to remove obstacles in the way of one's objective; to take an indirect approach; to fill in the outer moat
- 小堀流こぼりりゅう
kobori; swimming while wearing armor
- 横堀よこぼり
moat; horizontal trench
- 用水堀ようすいぼり
irrigation ditch
- 竪堀たてぼり
ascending trench or pathway cut into a naturally-occurring slope
Study
Etymology
堀 combines 土 (earth) with 屈, which likely contributes the sound and the idea of bending or hollowing out, suggesting earth dug out to form a channel.
Meaning mnemonic
The left side is earth 土, and the right side 屈 suggests something bent or hollowed. Picture digging into the earth to create a curved ditch or moat.
Reading mnemonic
For クツ, imagine a canal so deep it could swallow your boots: boots -> クツ, and the ditch swallows them whole.