pottery, porcelain
陶 centers on shaped clay: pottery and porcelain. The idea extends to molding or refining something, as clay is shaped and fired.
陶 combines ⻖ (mound, hill) with 匋, which is related to pottery or kilns. The character likely refers to the clay mounds or kilns used in pottery making.
The left side ⻖ suggests a mound of clay, and the right side 匋 looks like a kiln with a pot inside. Picture shaping clay from the mound and firing it in the kiln to make pottery.
For トウ, imagine a potter's toe pressing the clay on the wheel: toe -> トウ, shaping the pottery.
pottery; earthenware; ceramics; (soft-paste) porcelain; china
ceramic art; ceramics
gloomy (e.g. mood); depressing
pottery; earthenware; ceramics; porcelain
ceramics; pottery and porcelain
intoxication
clay
potter; ceramist; ceramicist
education; training; discipline
ceramic tile; ceramic panel; porcelain tile
potter's clay; kaolin; china clay
ceramics
porcelain making; ceramics making; pottery making
old pottery; antique porcelain
Museum of Oriental Ceramics, Osaka
Ordovician period
Tokoname Ceramic-Art Laboratory
ironstone china
narcissism; self-absorption; self-intoxication
tea bowl