Sinograph Addenda · Signs

earth

Nameearth
Reads
Meansearth, soil; the ground
Taught in00 · Orientation

Where it comes from

A mound of earth standing on the ground-line — by the received account, an earthen altar: the heaped soil at which a community worshipped the land itself. Taught in the opening chapter as the floor of the course’s cosmology: heaven above, earth below.

How to remember it

A shovelful of earth patted into a mound on flat ground. Everything in the classical world stands on this stroke.

In the wild

逝將去,適彼樂。樂!爰shì jiāng qù rǔ, shì bǐ lè tǔ. lè tǔ lè tǔ! yuán dé wǒ suǒ"I am leaving you, off to that happy land — happy land, happy land! — where I shall find my place" — a field-worker's song against a greedy lord, with the earth as the dream
Classic of Songs (Shijing), "Big Rat". urn:nabu:kanripo:KR1c0001:009:36a · license: attribution.