壤

A phono-semantic compound:

土 (earth, soil) — semantic component

襄 (to assist; to raise up) — phonetic component

The character originally referred to soft, workable soil, especially fertile earth suitable for cultivation, as opposed to rocky or barren ground.

In modern Korean, 壤 appears almost exclusively in 土壤 (토양).

토양 (土壤) — soil

사양 (沙壤) — sandy soil

비옥한 토양 (肥沃土壤) — fertile land

강토사양 (疆土壤) — territory and land

Unlike 地, 壤 emphasizes texture, fertility, and usability.

Usage and nuance:

If 天 (heaven) contrasts with 地 (earth) in a broad cosmological sense, then 霄 (the high sky) is often paired with 壤, emphasizing the soft, living earth below.

Thus, 壤 carries a more tactile, fertile, and human-centered sense of “earth” than 地, which can be abstract or geographic.

The large-number meaning (10²⁸) in the traditional Chinese large-number system is historical only and virtually never used today.

The character often appears in cosmological contrasts, especially in literary and philosophical texts.

Classical citations:

《屈原, 離騷》 (Qu Yuan, Li Sao)

「上至於天，下至於壤」

“Above, reaching heaven; below, touching the earth.”

壤 represents the lowest, most material realm, paired with lofty celestial imagery.