下る
さがる · sagaru · JLPT N4 · verb-godan
to descend
📉 sagaru starts with sag: whatever sags, drops and goes down
下 means down or below, and the verb ending turns it into to go down. The sound sag-aru contains English sag, which already means to sink or droop. Prices, temperatures and levels all sagaru when they fall.
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'.
くだる · kudaru · JLPT N3 · verb-godan
to get down
⛷️ 下 = down; kudaru shares a root with kudasai, once meaning hand it down to me
Kudasai comes from kudasaru, an honorific verb for a superior passing something down. 下る itself means going downward: 下り坂 (kudarizaka) is a downhill slope, and 下り電車 is a train heading away from Tokyo.
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'.