糠
rice bran
Readings
On'yomi
- コウ
Kun'yomi
- ぬか
Meaning
糠 centers on the powdery outer layer of rice grains: rice bran, the byproduct of polishing rice.
Most common words using 糠
- 糠ぬか
rice bran
- 米糠こめぬか
rice bran
- ジベルばら色粃糠疹ジベルばらいろひこうしん
pityriasis rosea Gibert
- 小糠こぬか
rice bran
- 小糠草こぬかぐさ
redtop (species of bent grass, Agrostis gigantea)
- 小糠雨こぬかあめ
light or fine rain; drizzle
- 粃糠ひこう
bran; husks
- 粃糠疹ひこうしん
pityriasis
- 糟糠そうこう
chaff and bran; plain food
- 糟糠の妻そうこうのつま
one's devoted wife; wife who has followed one through hard times; wife married in poverty
- 糠に釘ぬかにくぎ
having no effect; waste of effort
- 糠味噌ぬかみそ
salted rice-bran paste for pickling
- 糠子ぬかご
biting midge (any insect of family Ceratopogonidae); no-see-um
- 糠油ぬかあぶら
rice-bran oil
- 糠薄ぬかすすき
silver hairgrass (Aira caryophyllea)
- 糠蚊ぬかか
biting midge; no-see-um (any insect of family Ceratopogonidae)
- 糠蝿ぬかばえ
biting midge (any insect of family Ceratopogonidae); no-see-um
Study
Etymology
糠 combines 米 (rice) with 康, which likely contributes the sound and may relate to the idea of husks or chaff. The exact historical development of the right component is uncertain.
Meaning mnemonic
The left side is 米 (rice), and the right side 康 looks like a roof over a complex structure. Picture rice grains being polished under a mill roof, and the powdery bran that falls away is 糠.
Reading mnemonic
For コウ, imagine a coat of rice bran dust covering the mill: coat -> コウ, and the bran coats everything.