坐下
zuòxià · HSK 1
sit down
🪑 坐下 = 坐 (sit) + 下 (down)
坐 shows two 人 (people) sitting on 土 (ground). 下 means down or below. Together they form the verb-complement 'sit down' — the action 坐 with the directional result 下.
坐 — two 人 (people) + 土 (earth/ground)
Originally a pictograph showing two people sitting facing each other on the ground (土). The earth component indicates the location of sitting. The meaning later extended from 'to sit' to related senses like 'to be situated' or 'to take a seat'.
下 — horizontal line 一 + mark below
下 is an indicative character: a long horizontal line represents a reference level, and a shorter stroke placed beneath it points to the area below. The original meaning 'below, down' comes directly from this spatial diagram, and it later extended to verbs like 'descend' and 'lower'.