地狱
dìyū · HSK 7
hell
🔥 地狱 = earth + prison — the underground prison
地 means earth or ground, 狱 means prison. Stack them: the prison buried under the earth. Every culture digs its underworld downward, and Chinese does it literally — ground-prison.
地 — earth 土 + 也 (phonetic)
地 is a semantic-phonetic compound. The left component 土 means 'earth' or 'soil' and gives the meaning, while 也 on the right hints at the pronunciation. Originally referring to the ground or land, it broadened to mean 'place,' 'region,' and 'territory.'