坤 (kūn): earth (the receptive principle…

Meanings

1 earth (the receptive principle in the Book of Changes)
2 female; feminine
3 the Kun trigram (☷)

Characters

坤

kūn

earth; the receptive principle

Examples

乾坤是易经的头两卦。

Qiánkūn shì Yìjīng de tóu liǎng guà.

Heaven and earth, qian and kun, are the first two hexagrams of the Book of Changes.

他一招扭转乾坤，反败为胜。

Tā yí zhāo niǔzhuǎn qiánkūn, fǎnbàiwéishèng.

One decisive move turned the whole situation around.

这家店卖乾坤两类服装。

Zhè jiā diàn mài qiánkūn liǎng lèi fúzhuāng.

The shop sells both men's and women's clothing.

Tips

culture

Always paired with 乾 (heaven) as 乾坤, the Book of Changes pair for heaven/earth, male/female, the whole cosmos. 扭转乾坤 means 'to turn the whole situation around'.

Components

radical

土 tǔ

earth; soil

The earth radical on the left carries the core meaning: in the Book of Changes 坤 is the principle of Earth itself, the receptive ground beneath Heaven.

phonetic

申 shēn

to state; the 9th Earthly Branch

Supplies the sound on the right: 申 shifted to kūn. It contributes no meaning here, only the phonetic value.