陶 táo pottery
pottery; ceramics
怎么记住“陶”: 阝 mound + 匋 pottery = pottery. Grandma digs clay from the mound behind her pottery shop, where the kids fire their very first pottery.
部件结构
形声 · Meaning + sound
One part gives the meaning, the other gives the sound.
陶 = 阝 mound + 匋 pottery
- 阝 mound meaning
- 匋 pottery meaning + sound
Grandma digs clay from the mound behind her pottery shop, where the kids fire their very first pottery.
How it came to be
The bronze form puts people and earth beside a mound, meaning to dig; the inner shapes later became the pottery sign, which gives the sound.
用法
- Pottery/earthenware: 陶瓷 (táocí) ceramics, 陶器 (táoqì) pottery.
- Figuratively, being molded like clay: 熏陶 (xūntáo) to shape/nurture through long exposure (of culture, upbringing), 陶冶情操 (táoyě qíngcāo) to cultivate one's character.
- 陶醉 (táozuì) means to be blissfully intoxicated/immersed, e.g. 陶醉在音乐里 (táozuì zài yīnyuè lǐ) lost in the music.