tǔ
=
tu
+
Ø3:
earth / dust / clay / local / indigenous / crude opium / unsophisticated / one of the eight categories of ancient musical instruments 八音[ba1 yin1]
Mnemonic
Tommy Turtle (tu) wants to fix a cross (十) on a flute (一) in the space station's living room (Ø3). He uses dust and clay (土) to hold them together.
one / single / a (article) / as soon as / entire; whole; all; throughout / "one" radical in Chinese characters (Kangxi radical 1) / also pr. [yao1] for greater clarity when spelling out numbers digit by digit
li, ancient measure of length, approx. 500 m / neighborhood / ancient administrative unit of 25 families / (Tw) borough, administrative unit between the township 鎮|镇[zhen4] and neighborhood 鄰|邻[lin2] levels
counter soldiers with arms, water with an earth weir (idiom); different situations call for different action / to adopt measures appropriate to the actual situation
counter soldiers with arms, water with an earth weir (idiom); different situations call for different action / to adopt measures appropriate to the actual situation