薮
thicket, bush, underbrush, grove
Readings
On'yomi
- ソウ
Kun'yomi
- やぶ
Meaning
薮 centers on dense, tangled vegetation: a thicket, bush, underbrush, or small grove where plants grow closely together.
Most common words using 薮
- 姫薮蘭ひめやぶらん
Liriope minor (flowering plant in the Asparagaceae family)
- 草薮くさやぶ
thicket; bush; clump of bushes
- 薮入りやぶいり
holiday granted to servants on the 16th of the first and seventh months
- 薮紫やぶむらさき
Japanese beautyberry (Callicarpa mollis)
- 薮茗荷やぶみょうが
East Asian pollia (Pollia japonica)
- 薮蔭やぶかげ
thicket
- 薮蛇になるやぶへびになる
to only make work for oneself; to stir up a hornet's nest; to put one's foot in one's mouth
- 薮野兎やぶのうさぎ
European hare (Lepus europaeus); brown hare
Study
Etymology
薮 is a simplified form of 藪. It combines the grass radical 艹 with 数, which likely contributes a phonetic element while the grass radical indicates vegetation.
Meaning mnemonic
The grass radical 艹 sits on top of 数, like countless blades of grass and tangled plants forming a dense thicket.
Reading mnemonic
For ソウ, imagine a thicket so dense that you need to sew your way through it: sew -> ソウ, as you push through the underbrush.