井戸
いど · ido · JLPT N2 · noun
well
🪣💧 Ido sounds like I dug: I dug a 井戸, a water well
井 is the character for well. Its # shape comes from the square wooden frame built around a well's mouth. 戸 means door, so 井戸 is the well's doorway down to the water. Say I dug to remember the reading ido.
井 — pictograph of a well's wooden frame
井 is a pictograph showing the square wooden cribbing built around the mouth of a water well, viewed from above. The four crossing lines depict the interlocking timbers that kept the shaft from collapsing. Its meaning has stayed remarkably stable, still referring to wells and well-shaped grids.