地

地 U+5730, 地 CJK UNIFIED IDEOGRAPH-5730 ← 圯 [U+572F] CJK Unified Ideographs 圱 → [U+5731]

Stroke order

Stroke order

地 (Kangxi radical 32, 土+3, 6 strokes, cangjie input 土心木 (GPD), four-corner 4411₂, composition ⿰土也)

• 哋 𡜤 逇 𥒦

• Kangxi Dictionary: page 224, character 6
• Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 4890
• Dae Jaweon: page 456, character 8
• Hanyu Da Zidian (first edition): volume 1, page 420, character 12
• Unihan data for U+5730

trad.		地
simp. #		地
alternative forms		坔 埅 埊 𡍑 𨹛 坔 埅 埊 𡍑 𨹛 𨻐 墬 𡏇 𠏂 𡑸 𡒿 𡒴 𡒰 𡓬 嶳 𪒉 𤅴

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *l'els) : semantic 土 (“earth”) + phonetic 也 (OC *laːlʔ).

Compare Tibetan གཞི (gzhi, “ground”), Burmese မ္လိယ် (ma.liy) (whence Burmese မြေ (mre, “earth; ground”)) (Hill, 2019).

This etymology is incomplete. You can help Wiktionary by elaborating on the origins of this term. Schuessler 2007

地

1. earth

   天地  ―  tiāndì  ―  heaven and earth

2. ground; floor

   水泥地  ―  shuǐní dì  ―  concrete floor

   這匹馬倒在地上。 [MSC, trad.]
   这匹马倒在地上。 [MSC, simp.]

   Zhè pǐ mǎ dǎo zài dìshang. [Pinyin]

   The horse collapsed to the ground.

   銀包跌咗落地。 [Cantonese, trad.]
   银包跌咗落地。 [Cantonese, simp.]

   ngan⁴ baau¹ dit³ zo² lok⁶ dei⁶. [Jyutping]

   The wallet fell on the ground.

   趴喺地 [Cantonese]  ―  paa¹ hai² dei^6-2 [Jyutping]  ―  to lie on the floor on one's stomach

3. land; field (Classifier: 塊／块 m c; 笪 c; 幅 c)

   低地  ―  dīdì  ―  lowland

   呢塊地／呢块地 [Cantonese]  ―  nei¹ faai³ dei⁶ [Jyutping]  ―  this plot of land

   • 1919, 《新舊約全書：官話和合譯本》, Shanghai: American Bible Society, 詩篇 [Psalm] 27:13:

     我若不信在活人之地得見耶和華的恩惠、就早已喪膽了。 [MSC, trad.]
     我若不信在活人之地得见耶和华的恩惠、就早已丧胆了。 [MSC, simp.]

     Wǒ ruò bù xìn zài huórén zhī dì dé jiàn Yēhéhuá de ēnhuì, jiù zǎoyǐ sàngdǎn le. [Pinyin]

     I had fainted, unless I had believed to see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. (English Revised Version)

4. distance; separation

   車站離這三里地。 [MSC, trad.]
   车站离这三里地。 [MSC, simp.]

   Chēzhàn lí zhè sān lǐ dì. [Pinyin]

   The bus stop is three miles away.

5. farmland; field (Classifier: 塊／块 m c; 笪 c)

   田間地頭／田间地头  ―  tiánjiān dìtóu  ―  farmland

   下地幹活／下地干活  ―  xiàdì gànhuó  ―  to farm

6. (only in compounds) area; region

   本地  ―  běndì  ―  local

   殖民地  ―  zhímíndì  ―  colony

7. place; locality

   地處／地处  ―  dìchǔ  ―  located in

   目的地  ―  mùdedì  ―  destination

   分居兩地／分居两地  ―  fēnjū liǎng dì  ―  to live apart in two different places

8. status; situation; position

   不敗之地／不败之地  ―  bùbàizhīdì  ―  invincible position

   設身處地／设身处地  ―  shèshēnchǔdì  ―  put oneself in somebody else’s position

9. (only in compounds) state of mind

   心地  ―  xīndì  ―  mind

   見地／见地  ―  jiàndì  ―  perspective, opinion

10. place; room; space

    家裡沒地兒了。／家里没地儿了。  ―  Jiā lǐ méi dìr le.  ―  There is no room in my home (for that).

11. background (behind a text or figure)

    白地黑字  ―  báidìhēizì  ―  black characters on a white background

12. (electronics) GND

    浮地  ―  fúdì  ―  floating ground

    • 2023, “计算机抽象及相关技术” (chapter 1), in 王党辉, 安建峰, 张萌, 王继禾, transl., 计算机组成与设计：硬件/软件接口MIPS版（原书第6版）, translation of Computer Organization and Design: The Hardware/Software Interface, MIPS Edition, Sixth Edition by David A. Patterson, John L. Hennessy (in English), →ISBN, 功耗墙 (section 7), page 30:

      現代微處理器通常使用幾百個管腳作為電源和地！同樣，芯片的多個互連層級僅僅是為了解決芯片的電源和地的分佈比例問題。 [MSC, trad.]
      现代微处理器通常使用几百个管脚作为电源和地！同样，芯片的多个互连层级仅仅是为了解决芯片的电源和地的分布比例问题。 [MSC, simp.]

      Xiàndài wēichùlǐqì tōngcháng shǐyòng jǐ bǎi ge guǎnjiǎo zuòwèi diànyuán hé dì! Tóngyàng, xīnpiàn de duō ge hùlián céngjí jǐnjǐn shì wèile jiějué xīnpiàn de diànyuán hé dì de fēnbù bǐlì wèntí. [Pinyin]

      Modern microprocessors use hundreds of pins just for power and ground! Similarly, multiple levels of chip interconnect are used solely for power and ground distribution to portions of the chip.

13. (only in compounds) Short for 地球 (Dìqiú, “Earth”).

    地日距離／地日距离  ―  dì rì jùlí  ―  Earth–Sun distance

    類地行星／类地行星  ―  lèi dì xíngxīng  ―  terrestrial planet

14. (chiefly Hakka) grave; tomb

    蛤地站  ―  Gédì zhàn  ―  Gedi station (蛤地 means "frog-shaped tomb")

15. (Mainland China) Short for 地區／地区 (dìqū, “prefecture”).

    地級市／地级市  ―  dìjíshì  ―  prefecture-level city

Others:

• → Proto-Tai: *diːᴮ
  • Ahom: 𑜄𑜣 (tī)
  • Lao: ທີ່ (thī)
  • Lü: ᦑᦲᧈ (tii¹)
  • Northern Thai: ᨴᩦ᩵
  • Shan: တီႈ (tīi)
  • Thai: ที่ (tîi)
  • Zhuang: dih

Possibly the same word as 的, the possessive marker (Wang, 1958), but scholars like Lü (1943) and Yuan et al. (1996) are hesitant about this etymology.

Alternatively, Ōta (2003) proposes that it is a grammaticalization of etymology 1. The construction ADJ + 地 would have semantically developed as follows: "a ADJ place" → "in a ADJ place" → "in a ADJ manner".

地

1. (chiefly Mandarin) Particle indicating the preceding word is used as an adverb.

   alt. forms: 的, 底 obsolete

   很快地  ―  hěn kuài de  ―  very quickly

   一個一歲模樣的孩子向我們蹣跚地走來。 [MSC, trad.]
   一个一岁模样的孩子向我们蹒跚地走来。 [MSC, simp.]

   Yīge yī suì móyàng de háizi xiàng wǒmen pánshān de zǒulái. [Pinyin]

   A roughly one-year-old child came staggering towards us.

   佢偷偷地走咗喇。 [Cantonese, trad. and simp.]

   keoi⁵ tau¹ tau¹ dei^6-2 zau² zo² laa³. [Jyutping]

   He secretly left.

   你靜靜地坐喺度喇吓。 [Cantonese, trad.]
   你静静地坐喺度喇吓。 [Cantonese, simp.]

   nei⁵ zing⁶ zing^6-2 dei^6-2 co⁵ hai² dou⁶ laa³ haa². [Jyutping]

   Sit here quietly, OK?

• (Xiang) 里

• The use of this particle is always optional after polysyllabic adverbs.

  非常短  ―  fēicháng duǎn  ―  very short

  非常地短  ―  fēicháng de duǎn  ―  very short

• On the contrary, monosyllabic adverbs are compulsorily used with or without 地.

  很漂亮  ―  hěn piàoliang  ―  very beautiful (where *很地漂亮 is unacceptable)

  倏地不見／倏地不见  ―  shū de bùjiàn  ―  to disappear suddenly (where *倏不見 is unacceptable in Modern Standard Chinese)

• However, there is an exception:

  猛回頭／猛回头  ―  měng huítóu  ―  to turn the head back suddenly

  猛地回頭／猛地回头  ―  měng de huítóu  ―  to turn the head back suddenly

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium. Particularly: “related to etymology 2?”)

trad.		地
simp. #		地
alternative forms		哋

地

1. (Cantonese) Placed after a reduplicated adjective or stative verb to lessen its intensity.

   紅紅地／红红地 [Cantonese]  ―  hung⁴ hung^4-2 dei^6-2 [Jyutping]  ―  kind of red

   薄薄地 [Cantonese]  ―  bok⁶ bok^6-2 dei^6-2 [Jyutping]  ―  kind of thin

   驚驚地／惊惊地 [Cantonese]  ―  geng¹ geng¹ dei^6-2 [Jyutping]  ―  to be kind of scared

   矮矮地 [Cantonese]  ―  ai² ai² dei^6-2 [Jyutping]  ―  kind of short

• This suffix is accompanied by a tone change in the reduplicated word, where the second occurrence is changed to the second tone (unless its original tone is the first or second tone), as seen in the examples above.

trad.		地
simp. #		地

地

1. (Hokkien, Teochew) Alternative form of 塊／块 (“place”)
2. (Taiwanese Hokkien) Alternative form of 塊／块 (“home”)

For pronunciation and definitions of 地 – see 哋 (“Cantonese plurality marker”). (This character is a variant form of 哋).

(Second grade kyōiku kanji)

1. earth; ground

• Go-on: じ (ji, Jōyō)^{←ぢ (di, historical)}
• Kan-on: ち (chi, Jōyō)
• Kun: つち (tsuchi, 地)
• Nanori: どま (doma)

Kanji in this term
地
じ Grade: 2
on'yomi

From Middle Chinese 地 (dij^H). The goon reading, so likely the initial borrowing. Compare modern Mandarin dì.

• (Tokyo) じ [jíꜜ] (Atamadaka – [1])^[1]
• (Tokyo) じ [jì] (Heiban – [0])^[1]
• IPA^(key): [d͡ʑi]

地(じ) • (ji) ^{←ぢ (di)?}

1. earth, dirt
2. fabric, cloth
   • 1906, Natsume Sōseki, Botchan‎^[1]:

     いくらか薄(うす)い地(じ)には相(そう)違(い)なくっても暑(あつ)いには極(きま)ってる。

     Ikura ka usui ji ni wa sōi nakutte mo atsui ni wa kimatteru.

     However thin the cloth, flannel is flannel and must have been pretty warm at that time of the year.

3. (go) territory

Kanji in this term
地
ち Grade: 2
on'yomi

From Middle Chinese 地 (dij^H). The kan'on reading, so likely a later borrowing. The devoicing of the initial consonant might indicate a dialectal source. Compare modern Hakka thi, Min Nan tī.

• (Tokyo) ち [chíꜜ] (Atamadaka – [1])^[1]
• IPA^(key): [t͡ɕi]

地(ち) • (chi) 

1. earth, land, ground
2. a place, a region, a piece of land
3. territory, dominion
4. (of a crate, etc.) the bottom
5. (printing, of a page) the bottom margin

   Antonym: 天

   Hypernym: マージン

地(ち) • (-chi) 

1. place, area

Kanji in this term
地
つち Grade: 2
kun'yomi

For pronunciation and definitions of 地 – see the following entry.

【土つち】1 [noun] earth, soil, mud [noun] the ground

(This term, 地, is an alternative spelling of the above term.)

From Middle Chinese 地 (MC dijH).

Historical Readings
Dongguk Jeongun Reading
Dongguk Jeongun, 1448	띵〮 (Yale: ttí)
Middle Korean
Text	Eumhun
	Gloss (hun)	Reading
Hunmong Jahoe, 1527[2]	ᄯᅡ〮 (Yale: stá)	디〮 (Yale: tí)

• (SK Standard/Seoul) IPA^(key): [t͡ɕi]
• Phonetic hangul: [지]

Wikisource

地 (eumhun 땅 지 (ttang ji))

1. hanja form^? of 지 (“earth; land; ground”) [affix]

• 국제퇴계학회 대구경북지부 (國際退溪學會 大邱慶北支部) (2007). Digital Hanja Dictionary, 전자사전／電子字典. [3]

地: Hán Việt readings: địa^[1][2][3]
地: Nôm readings: địa^[1][2][3][4], đĩa^[1][2], gịa^[1], đất^[2], rịa^[3]

1. chữ Hán form of địa (“earth; ground; land”).