土豆
tǔ doù · HSK 5
potato
🥔 土 (earth) + 豆 (bean) = earth-bean = potato
土 means earth/soil and 豆 means bean or legume. A potato is literally an earth-bean — a bean-shaped thing dug from the soil. In Taiwan the same compound shifts to mean peanut, another bean from the ground.
土 — pictograph of a mound of earth on the ground
土 is a pictograph showing a lump or mound of soil resting on the ground line. In oracle bone script it depicted an earthen heap, sometimes interpreted as an altar to the earth god. The meaning has remained stable: earth, soil, or ground.