Origin

The character 陥 combines the earth or ground radical on the left with a sound component on the right that hints at the pronunciation. The earth radical suggests this character relates to land or terrain, while the right side provides a phonetic clue to how the character is pronounced. Together, they create a word meaning to collapse or cave in—something that happens when the ground gives way beneath you. This combination of a meaning-bearing part and a sound-hint part is a common way Chinese and Japanese characters were formed.

AI-generated (claude-haiku-4-5), not yet reviewed. Formation type (automated guess): Phono-semantic (meaning + sound hint).