TSUMUGU · TOCFL 2 (est.) · 字
里
ㄌㄧˇ · lǐ
noun — village, neighborhood; li (distance)
字源 FORM — what the parts do
Fields (田) and packed earth (土) — where people settle: the village. Taiwan still files its neighborhoods as 里. The walk between villages became the measure: the 里, and metric's 公里, the kilometer.
故事 STORY — a scene to remember it by
走出村口，田（田）在左，夯土（土）牆在右——下一個村，還有三里。
Past the village gate, fields (田) on one side, packed-earth (土) walls on the other — the next village, three li on.
字源記憶法
意 · Meanings
(本義)村里、鄰里— the village; the neighborhood
→三里路、公里— the li; the kilometer常用
(本義) original meaning · → ⇒ each arrow = one more step of extension