three legged kettle
鼎 centers on an ancient three-legged kettle or cauldron, a heavy metal vessel used for cooking and ritual. Its meaning is concrete and specific to this object.
鼎 is a pictograph of an ancient three-legged bronze cauldron. The modern form retains the vessel shape with legs and handles, though stylized.
The top looks like handles, the middle 目 suggests the cauldron's body with a decorative eye-like pattern, and the lower strokes are the three legs. Together they form a three-legged kettle.
For テイ, imagine a tea kettle shaped like 鼎: tea -> テイ, and the ancient cauldron steeps a giant pot of tea.
three-legged bronze vessel (used in ancient China)
tripartite talk; three-man talk
three people sitting in a triangle
three parties (forces) opposing one another; three-cornered contest
ding (hexagram 50 of the I Ching: the caldron)
bronze-vessel and bell inscriptions
to call someone's ability into question; to doubt a ruler's competence
three people sitting in a triangle
triangular position; three-cornered contest
three-way contest
change of dynasty