About
The character 壤, constructed from the earth radical 土 combined with 襄, a component historically associated with cultivation and assistance, originally denoted specifically fertile or cultivated soil suitable for agriculture. Over centuries, its meaning broadened to encompass the general concept of earth or soil, particularly in literary and formal contexts, while retaining its core association with arable land. This semantic expansion is reflected in classical compounds such as 天壤, which metaphorically expresses a vast difference, and its foundational role in the modern term 土壤, meaning soil. Its structural composition has remained consistent, with the radical clearly indicating its categorical relation to earth and the phonetic component 襄 providing both sound and a residual sense of its agricultural origins.
Etymology Hide
Example Sentences Hide
这块土壤非常肥沃。
我们的家乡土壤肥沃。
两国接壤的边界很长。
这里主要是红色的红壤。
这片沃壤适合种植水稻。
天壤之别的差距令人震惊。
重金属污染会破坏土壤结构。
地缘政治与接壤国家关系密切。