坺

It names soil lifted by digging or ploughing.

The earliest recorded explanation is in the Han-dynasty dictionary Shuowen Jiezi: it describes worked earth and soil lifted by one spade.

An early Chinese historical text, the Guoyu, places 坺 in a king’s ceremonial ploughing. Other dictionary entries also list dust and a place-name. Later references connect 坺 with 垡 and 墢 for turned soil or its clod. The Shijing, an early Chinese poetry collection, has 旆 (“banner”) in the received text; Shuowen discusses 坺 there as a sound-loan, a character borrowed for a similarly sounding word.

When does 坺 mean mud?

In colloquial Cantonese, it describes a soft, shapeless mass.

Cantonese compounds such as 濕坺坺 mean damp or wet, while 腍坺坺 means soft and mushy. This texture use is colloquial; it sits apart from the agricultural senses in older texts.