Mnemonic
You open your mouth wide and someone shoves a fistful of earth inside. The gritty soil coats your tongue and you instantly spit it out in a violent spray! Dirt and saliva splatter across the ground as your mouth keeps convulsing, trying to spit every last grain of earth out.
Additional thoughts
Picture the texture of dry soil on your tongue — that involuntary gagging reflex is unforgettable. Mouth (口) on the left, Earth (土) on the right, combine to form the urge to expel.Quick recall
Mouth full of earth makes you spit violently.Details
The keyword for 吐 is spit. This kanji refers to the act of expelling something from the mouth, whether it be saliva, food, or vomit. It can also be used figuratively to mean uttering or blurting out words, as if spitting them forth. The character thus encompasses both the physical act of ejecting matter from the mouth and the metaphorical sense of expressing something forcefully or reluctantly.
- On'yomi
- と
- Kun'yomi
- は.く、つ.く