With 192 signs derived from this character in the Kangxi Dictionary, it has a frequency somewhat below average.

The character 田 is a pictograph of a rice field with irrigation channels.

Signs derived from this character mostly belong to the agricultural sphere, such as 亩, a unit of area, 男, a field worker, or 畜 "cattle".

In other cases, it is present due to assimilation of a similar but originally distinct radical, as in 胃 "stomach".

In the ancient Chinese cyclic character numeral system tiāngān, 甲 represents the first Celestial stem.