Radical 土

6 strokes

talent (55a) + earth 土 (54a) = at 在

This can mean both “in/at/on” and “to be in/at/on”, or “to be in the middle of ” (doing something).

正在 (29) zhèngzài (used before a verb to denote action in progress)

(An announcement at the flower show) “the expert gardeners, who have a special talent for growing things in the earth, will be at the main marquee to answer questions when the big “@” sign is displayed above it.” / The dwarf (who is organizing things) plays a couple of notes on his xylophone to end the announcement.

You might like to think of this as “left hand” plus “stick”. But we think that our illustrator’s character picture is a better and more vivid way to remember this. (We will have something else to say about this character when we get to Character 518).