天
cheon
Ceiling and genius both come from overhead
The picture Everything spread out above a person's head, past where a hand can reach. 天 is the open above; 地 is the ground below.
Where the picture shows up in 天
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the surface over your head
천장에서 물이 새요.
cheon-jang-e-seo mu-ri sae-yo
Water is leaking from the ceiling.
Looking up to a stain spreading on the surface above, a drop swelling and falling
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ability handed down from above
그 아이는 천재예요.
geu a-i-neun cheon-jae-ye-yo
That child is a genius.
A child who never studied sitting at a piano and picking out the whole tune
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untouched by human hands
이건 천연 가죽이에요.
i-geon cheo-nyeon ga-ju-gi-e-yo
This is genuine, natural leather.
Material that came straight from the field rather than a factory machine, laid on a shop shelf
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the overhead nobody controls
우천 시 경기는 취소됩니다.
u-cheon si gyeong-gi-neun chwi-so-doem-ni-da
The match is cancelled in case of rain.
Fat raindrops falling across a notice taped to the stadium gate
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the good place up above
이 동네는 아이들 천국이에요.
i dong-ne-neun a-i-deul cheon-gu-gi-e-yo
This neighborhood is paradise for kids.
A playground where children run free, lit up like a place above the clouds
All of it in one picture
天 is what sits overhead. The surface covering your head indoors is a ceiling; ability nobody made, handed down from above, is genius. Material that came as it was, untouched by human hands, is natural; and weather, the overhead condition nobody controls, decides whether the game is played. The best place there is, the one said to be up there, is heaven.