TSUMUGU · TOCFL 2 (est.) · 字
鄉
ㄒㄧㄤ · xiāng
noun — countryside, village; hometown
字源 FORM — what the parts do
鄉形two people seated face to face at a shared bowl of food
The old graph is one scene: two figures kneeling either side of a food vessel (皀) in the middle — a shared meal, neighbours at one table. From that gathering came the settled place where people share life: the village, the home district. 家鄉、鄉村、同鄉. The same meal-scene seeds 卿 and 嚮.
故事 STORY — a scene to remember it by
一盆飯擺中間，兩個人對坐著一起吃——這就是同鄉。
A bowl of food set between two people seated face to face, sharing the meal — one's home village.
字源記憶法
意 · Meanings
(本義)鄉村、鄉下— countryside, village常用
→家鄉、故鄉— hometown, native place常用
→同鄉、鄉親— a fellow villager; folks from home
(本義) original meaning · → ⇒ each arrow = one more step of extension