在 in progress, an action taking place; in a place, be located; to exist, to be, to dwell; rural countryside; alright, acceptable, passable, ideal, desirable 亻,一,ナ,丨,土,

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MingLiU:

Mincho:

Gothic:

在

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On-yomi [ Toggle rōmaji ]

ザイ
ZA　I

Kun-yomi

あ(る
a　ru

Glyph elements [ Toggle Font ]

亻

× person (male generally), rod head, head on rod

　THE HEAD OF AN ANIMAL OR PERSON and VERTICAL, RECIPROCATING MOTION, ONE'S ROD, STALK OR STEM
　

一

イチ,イツ,ひと～ horizontal, array of items, reciprocating lateral motion, indicates width or extent, one segment, rod stalk or stem

　SIDE TO SIDE, BACK AND FORTH
　

ナ

× HTML entity: ナ hand (as an element); use of one's hand

　ROD with SLIDING HEAD
…or: ERECT ROD
　

丨

コン,シ,ジョ,ニョ,すす,しりぞ vertical, reciprocating motion vertically, rod stalk or stem while vertical

　TOP TO BOTTOM, BOTTOM TO TOP, UP-DOWN
　

土

ド,ト,つち soil, night soil (feces)

　SCREWING with ROD
…or: RODS UP
…or: ROD within A FLESH SEAM
　

Meanings of elements

PERSON with ROD and SOIL, FECES
…or: HAND with RECIPROCATING MOTION VERTICALLY, ROD STALK OR STEM and with OPIUM
…or: HAND on ROD with SOIL, FECES

「Person with rod and feces」as in AN ACTION TAKING PLACE, NOW IN PROGRESS that also seems to capture some sarcasm of the Chinese sages inherent in many glyphs.
「Hand with vertical motion」and「ground, soil, earth」is WHERE YOU ARE, or WHERE YOU RESIDE, the core of your EXISTENCE, being IN PLACE or better said as「in your place.」In the old days, folks moved from the caves into pit hole homes dug into soil or the side of a hill, so in order to climb down into and to climb up out of the pit hole residence, a「hand with vertical motion and the ground, soil」was necessary.
Then again,「hand on rod with feces, soil」seems to indicate using a hand in order to PUT IN PLACE, PLACE INTO, to LOCATE and then RESIDE, DWELL, STAY AWHILE, perhaps tilling one's vegetable garden while adding a natural fertilizer to enrich the soil (see 存, 'making a deposit' as fertilization of a sort).
Or:「hand in vertical motion」while in the「ground」simply describes passing the time while sitting in one's pit hole home alone out in the RURAL COUNTRYSIDE, with no towns or cities nearby for other entertainment.「Hand or person with rod and feces」seems to indicate getting the shitty end of the stick, in one way or another.

External source definitions …excluding politically incorrect concepts and other meanings deemed offensive today; may include extended definitions, euphemisms, and mnemonics)
Chinese: (located) at; (to be) in; to exist; in the middle of doing sth; (indicating an action in progress)
Japanese EDRDG: exist, outskirts, suburbs, located in
Unihan extended: be at, in, on; consist in, rest

Used within names (nanori)
あり

Always keep in mind that these glyphs most likely were originally designed by groups of clever old men as vulgar riddles for their own entertainment (see 籒 for that), representing Chinese society many thousands of years ago, but intended NOT as a written or spoken language when created. If these glyphs had been intended for language use, the sages could not have possibly designed a worse system! Is it truly possible that all these glyphs started out as off-color jokes and puzzles? Yes! It is, and often with multiple correct answers to each riddle, the same as is true today. Sex had no shame in ancient China. Why would it? But, have there been necessary rewrites and altered explanations of the original elemental meanings over the centuries?

No one is suggesting these glyphs depict contemporary life in China, Japan, or anywhere else. This site describes glyph meanings, not people. These glyphs however, describe many and various things, including people, long before there were any notions of becoming politically incorrect. The question to be answered is, should these glyphs continue being used, by anyone, anywhere, for expressing language? (More...) Despite how seemingly bad our human existence is today, do you actually believe that the so-called good old days were any better? Or could they have been worse?

By the way, with a limited number of the same elements used by the sages again and again to form these glyphs, you should expect to find the same explanations again and again, as tedious as that may become, and as an inherent trait of any lexicon. This site explains multiple meanings of glyphs ignored or censored by other sources, generally as being too embarrassing to admit today.