土
つち · tsuchi · JLPT N3 · noun
soil
🌱🪨 土 = a sprout (十) over flat ground (一): soil things grow out of
The character began as a mound of earth on the ground line. Read it as a plus sign standing on a floor line, like a seedling breaking through the dirt. Verbal hook: tsuchi, the soil you touch with your hands.
土 — pictograph of a mound of earth on the ground
土 is a pictograph showing a lump or mound of soil resting on the ground line. In oracle bone script it depicted an earthen heap, sometimes interpreted as an altar to the earth god. The meaning has remained stable: earth, soil, or ground.