地
ji
One floor holding up basement, map, and earthquake
The picture The floor spread out under your feet, carrying everything that stands on it. 地 is the ground below; 天 is the open sky above.
Where the picture shows up in 地
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dug down into the ground
사무실은 지하 일 층에 있어요.
sa-mu-si-reun ji-ha il cheung-e i-sseo-yo
The office is on the first basement floor.
A finger pressing the button marked with a minus in the elevator
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the ground moved onto paper
지도 좀 보여 주세요.
ji-do jom bo-yeo ju-se-yo
Could you show me the map?
A whole landscape shrinking until it sits as lines on a palm-sized sheet
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one piece of ground marked off
이 지역은 눈이 많이 와요.
i ji-yeo-geun nu-ni ma-ni wa-yo
It snows a lot around here.
A line drawn on a map so one patch of land is colored apart from the rest
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the ground itself shaking
어제 새벽에 지진이 났어요.
eo-je sae-byeo-ge ji-ji-ni na-sseo-yo
There was an earthquake early yesterday morning.
The floor you trusted sliding side to side while water sloshes in a glass
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the last point your feet reach
목적지까지 얼마나 걸려요?
mok-jeok-ji-kka-ji eol-ma-na geol-lyeo-yo
How long does it take to get to the destination?
A line running straight to a single red dot marked on a map
All of it in one picture
地 is the ground under your feet. Dig down into it and you get a basement; shrink it onto paper and you get a map. A piece marked off with a line is a region, and when the ground itself moves, that is an earthquake. The final point on it your feet must reach is your destination.