‘农具’ (nóng jù) is a compound noun meaning 'farming tool' — any implement used in agricultural work, such as plows, hoes, sickles, or rakes. The first character, 农 (nóng), means 'agriculture' or 'farming', and the second, 具 (jù), means 'tool' or 'implement'. Together, they form a specific, unambiguous term for tools designed for cultivating crops or raising livestock. Unlike more general words like 工具 (gōngjù, 'tool'), 农具 carries an explicit agricultural context and is commonly used in discussions about traditional farming methods, rural life, or agricultural history.

This word is neutral in register and appears frequently in textbooks, documentaries, museum exhibits, and policy documents related to agriculture. It’s often pluralized implicitly (no plural marker needed) since many farming tools are used collectively — e.g., a farmer might store several different 农具 in a shed. While modern mechanized equipment (e.g., tractors) isn’t typically called 农具, the term still applies broadly to hand tools and simple machines used across China’s farming communities.