A mound of earth rising from the ground line — soil you could hold in your hand. On the oracle bones the mound is a plump lump; the brush later flattened it into the crossbar of today's 土. It is the second of the five elements you have met: wood was spring, earth is the center.
A piece of culture
An army made of earth The First Emperor — the king who found 王 too small — took an entire army into his grave, sculpted from 土. Eight thousand terracotta soldiers, no two faces alike, with horses, chariots, and bronze weapons, stood guard underground for 2,200 years until farmers digging a well found them in 1974. Fired earth, 兵马俑, is now one of the wonders of the world: proof of what the farming kingdom could build from its own soil.
Use it in a real word
国土
guótǔ · gwok3 tou2
national territory — the country's earth, both characters collected