墓
mù · HSK 6
grave
🪦 Under the grass (艹) lies the sun (日) set in earth (土) — a mù grave
Top radical 艹 (grass) covers 莫 (sunset, nothing), which combines 日 (sun) sinking into 土 (earth). Below sits 土 again — the burial ground where everything returns to soil.
墓 — grass 艹 + 莫 (phonetic, 'sunset')
A semantic-phonetic compound. The 土 'earth' element at the bottom signals burial mound, while 莫 (originally a sun setting in grass) supplies the sound. The character means 'grave' or 'tomb,' with 莫 also hinting at the sense of life's end.