土

tǔ = tu + Ø3

Tu (ethnic group) / surname Tu

tǔ = tu + Ø3

earth / dust / clay / local / indigenous / crude opium / unsophisticated / one of the eight categories of ancient musical instruments 八音[ba1 yin1]

土 = 十 + 一 : 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.

土 character breakdown

土
- 一
- 十
  - 一
  - 丨

一

yi̅ = y + Ø1

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

Maud Younger (y) forgot her keys to the space station (Ø1), all she brought outside was her flute (一). She has no choice but to crash the door with the giant flute.

十

shí = sh + Ø2

ten / 10

十 = 一 + 丨 : Mnemonic symbol: a holy cross. Sherlock Holmes (sh-) is investigating a very strange thing he found in the kitchen of the space station (-2): A big pyramid made of ten (十) crosses (十), which are in turn made out of flutes (一) and dinosaur bones (丨).

Characters with 土 as component

在

zài = z + ai4

(located) at / (to be) in / to exist / in the middle of doing sth / (indicating an action in progress)

在 = 一 + 亻 + 土 : Zorro and Rosa Luxemburg are meeting in the airplane's bathroom. Rosa is in the middle of balancing a flute on her head and on a pile of clay. The flute is located on the clay and on Rosa's head. Zorro uses his rapier to inscribe "Z" into the flute, so as to mark that the pronunciation of "在" begins with "z".

在

zài = z + ai4

to exist; to be alive / (of sb or sth) to be (located) at / (used before a verb to indicate an action in progress)

王

wáng = w + ang2

surname Wang

王

wáng = w + ang2

king or monarch / best or strongest of its type / grand / great

王 = 一 + 土 : Mnemonic symbol: Martin Luther King. Willy Walrus (wu) is stuck in a heap of dirt (土) in the anglepod's kitchen (ang2). Martin Luther King (王) helps him by holding out a flute (一).

王

wàng = w + ang4

to rule / to reign over

地

dì = di + Ø4

earth / ground / field / place / land / CL:片[pian4]

地 = 也 + 土 : Dorothy Gale finds the excavator in the space station's bathroom to be covered in clay. She wants to know what happened, but the excavator just shrugs.

地

de = d + e5

-ly / structural particle: used before a verb or adjective, linking it to preceding modifying adverbial adjunct

至

zhì = zh + Ø4

to arrive / most / to / until

至 = 一 + 厶 + 土 : Mnemonic symbol: one of these conveyor belts from which you pick up your suitcase when you arrived at an airport. James II of England (zh) finally got the package he was waiting for! He picks it up from the arrivals (至) in the bathroom of the space station (Ø4). In it is a flute (一), which he sticks into his nose (厶). He blows his nose, and boy, does a lot of clay (土) come out! He's glad to have a free nose again.