(すき)

すき
noun
spade; plow
1. spade; plow; digging tool
A hand farming tool with a flat blade and a long handle, used to dig and turn over soil. Historically also a plow drawn through a field.
(すき)(はたけ)(たがや)す。
I till the field with a spade.
(むかし)(うし)(すき)()かせて()(たがや)した。
Long ago, people had oxen pull a plow to till the rice fields.
(すき)使(つか)って(つち)(ふか)()(かえ)すと、作物(さくもつ)がよく(そだ)つ。
When you use a spade to dig the soil over deeply, the crops grow well.

A traditional digging and tilling tool. The word is also part of the dish name すき()き (sukiyaki), said to come from cooking on a spade-like metal blade.

SIMILAR WORDS:

  • (くわ): hoe — has the blade set at an angle to the handle for chopping into soil, whereas a (すき) blade is in line with the handle for digging
  • スコップ・シャベル: shovel — modern general-purpose digging tools