Origin

This character combines earth or soil (土) on the left with a bird or small creature (隹) on the right. The image suggested is of things piled or heaped up—like a mound of earth with birds gathering on top, or more simply, the idea of layered, stacked objects. Over time, the character came to mean "piled high" or "heap," capturing that sense of materials accumulated in a rising mass. The specific choice of bird may relate to an older word for piling or stacking, though the visual logic of accumulation on soil is the most transparent part of the character's meaning.