부터
bu-teo
에 is a dot; 부터 is where the line starts
The picture The spot where your pencil first touches the paper before drawing a line. It says from here onward, not merely here. 부터 is where the line starts, 까지 is the wall it stops at; put them together — 월요일부터 금요일까지 — and you have drawn the whole line.
Where the picture shows up in 부터
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where the pencil touches down
회의는 두 시부터예요.
hoe-ui-neun du si-bu-teo-ye-yo
The meeting is from two o'clock.
The hand of the clock touches two, the meeting-room door opens and people start taking their seats
두 시에 시작해요 marks the point; 두 시부터 says the line runs on from there.
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the left end of the line
월요일부터 금요일까지 일해요.
wo-ryo-il-bu-teo geu-mo-yil-kka-ji il-hae-yo
I work Monday to Friday.
A pencil is set on Monday's square and drawn in one stroke across to Friday's
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where to start clearing
여기부터 치워 주세요.
yeo-gi-bu-teo chi-wo ju-se-yo
Please start clearing from here.
In a messy room, the broom touches down on this spot first and sweeps away from it
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first in the queue
손부터 씻으세요.
son-bu-teo ssi-seu-se-yo
Wash your hands first.
In the queue of things to do, washing your hands steps out to the very front
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back to the beginning
처음부터 다시 설명해 드릴까요?
cheo-eum-bu-teo da-si seol-myeong-hae deu-ril-kka-yo
Shall I explain again from the top?
The finger explaining the page goes back to the very first line and starts tracing again
All of it in one picture
부터 points at the spot where the line begins. Let the clock hand touch two and the meeting starts there, so it is a starting time; set the pencil on Monday and draw across to Friday, and it is the left end of the line. Let the broom touch down here first and sweep outward, and it is where the work starts; let hand-washing step to the front of the queue, and it is first in order. Send the finger back to the first line and it is where the explanation starts over. So 부터 never says merely here — it says from here onward.