～寺
～じ · ～ji · JLPT N2 · noun
temple
🛕 -ji ends temple names: Kinkaku-ji, Ryōan-ji, Tōdai-ji
寺 alone is read tera, meaning temple. Added to the end of a name it is read ji, so the ji in Kinkaku-ji and Kiyomizu-dera both come from this one kanji. The kanji is made of 土 (earth) on top of 寸 (measure).
寺 — earth 土 on top + inch 寸 below
Originally depicted a hand (寸) working at a place, denoting a court or government office in early Chinese. After Buddhism arrived in the Han dynasty, 寺 was reassigned to mean 'Buddhist temple' because foreign monks were first housed in such official buildings. The older 'office' sense survives in compounds like 太常寺.