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土: soil

By March 8, 2014January 28th, 2021Chinese Word, Japanese Word, Language-Learning
soil
 

土 tǔ

noun | radical 32
: earth; dust; clay
: local; indigenous
: crude opium
: unsophisticated
: one of the eight ancient musical instruments 八音 ba1yin made of eight different materials (metal 金, stone 石, clay 土, leather 革, silk 絲, wood 木, gourd 匏, bamboo 竹)

Kun Reading

土 | つち tsuchi

noun
: earth; soil; dirt
: the earth (historically, esp. as opposed to the heavens); the ground; the land
: low-quality torinoko-gami (containing mud)
: (period of) refraining from construction in the direction of the god of the earth (in On’youdou)

On Reading

土 | と to
土 | ど do

noun
: (Abbreviation) Saturday;
: earth (third of the five elements)

に ni

noun
: soil (esp. reddish soil)

 Usage:

土地 tu3di4: local god; plot of land; soil; territory [とち tochi]

土地公 tu3di4 gong1: the (local) God of earth

土人tu3ren2: native; aborigine; clay figure
[どじん dojin: natives; aborigines]
土壤 tu3rang3: soil [土壌 | どじょう dojou]
土丘 tu3qiu1: mound; hillock; barrow
土匪 tu3fei3: bandit [どひ dohi: local rebels]
土包子 tu3 bao1 zi: country bumpkin; boor; unsophisticated country person (humble, applied to oneself); burial mound
土木工程 tu3 mu4 gong1 cheng2: civil engineering
[土木工学 | どぼくこうがく doboku kougaku]
土豚 tu3tun: aardvark [つちぶた tsuchibuta]

土豬 tu3 zhu1: aardvark

土豆 tu3dou4: potato; peanut
土司 tu3si1: (loanword toast) sliced bread
領[领]土 ling3tu3: territory
[りょうど ryoudo: dominion; territory; possession]
塵[尘]土 chen2tu3: dust
本土 ben3tu3: one’s native country; native; local; metropolitan territory
[ほんど hondo: mainland; one’s home country]
泥土 ni2tu3: earth; soil; mud [でいど deido: mud]
土曜日 tu3yao4ri4: Saturday (used in ancient Chinese astronomy)
[どようび doyoubi]



Japanese common word / expression / idiom
土日月 | どにちげつ donichigetsu: Saturday, Sunday and Monday

冥土の土産 | めいどのみやげ meido no miyage
: pleasant memory to take to the afterlife; good memory; something that makes one feel one can die in peace



Chinese idiom
入土為[为]安 ru4 tu3 wei2 an1
: buried and at rest: Resquiescat in pacem (RIP)

 Etymology:


象形 Pictographic.
A mound 十 (shi2: ten) on the ground 一 (yi1: one)



“Earth” radical #32.



土 + 土 = gui1: jade tablet



 Examples:


蚯蚓生活在土中。
qiu1yin3 sheng1huo2 zai4 tu3 zhong1.
Earthworms live in the soil (earth)

Resources: Chinese Dictionary | Japanese Dictionary
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