土
tsuchi
From the soil in a pot to Saturday, one ground underfoot
The picture Ground lies under your feet: it presses down when you step on it and darkens when you water it. 土 is the ground you stand on; 水 is what runs across it and soaks in.
Where the picture shows up in 土
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soil in a pot
植木の土が乾いています。
ueki no tsuchi ga kawaite imasu
The soil in the pot has dried out.
The surface of the pot has gone pale and dry, with cracks running across it
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ground divided by lines
この土地は高いです。
kono tochi wa takai desu
Land here is expensive.
String and stakes are set across bare ground, cutting one plot out of it
土地 is 'soil and its place': the word used when ground carries a price.
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soil on the soles
土足で入らないでください。
dosoku de hairanaide kudasai
Please don't come in with your shoes on.
A line of sole-shaped dirt prints runs across the wooden floor of the entryway
土足 means 'dirt feet': keeping your shoes on, drawn as soil.
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work that handles earth
父は土木の仕事をしています。
chichi wa doboku no shigoto o shite imasu
My father works in civil engineering.
A digger scoops earth out and posts go up in the hole to carry a road across
土木 is 'earth and wood': digging ground and raising structures on it.
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the earth day of the week
土曜日も店を開けます。
doyōbi mo mise o akemasu
We open the shop on Saturdays too.
One square of the calendar is stamped with the earth character, an 'open' sign laid over it
All of it in one picture
土 is the ground under your feet. Put it in a pot and it is the 土 that dries out and gets watered; draw lines on it and price it and you get 土地, land. Let it come indoors on the soles of shoes and you get 土足, shoes on; dig it and raise posts in it to make roads and bridges and you get 土木, civil engineering; hang its name on a day and you get 土曜日, Saturday. The word changes, the soil underfoot does not.