TSUMUGU · TOCFL 1 (est.) · 字
沙
沙 ＝ 氵 ＋ 少
ㄕㄚ · shā
noun — sand; adj — grainy, hoarse
字源 FORM — what the parts do
氵義water
Water (氵) plus 少. 說文: 水散石也，水少沙見 — water breaks the stone down, and where the water runs low the grit shows. The old graph carries two tellings: 少 reads straight into the picture — little water, sand appears — and the same 少 sounds the row of 砂 shā, 莎 suō. From the grit: 沙子、沙灘、沙漠.
故事 STORY — a scene to remember it by
水（氵）退下去，露出一灘碎石——水少（少），沙就出來了。
The water (氵) draws back off the bar; where it runs thin (少), the sand lies bare.
字源記憶法
意 · Meanings
(本義)沙子、沙灘— sand常用
→沙漠— desert
⇒沙啞、沙沙— grainy; hoarse; a rustling sound
(本義) original meaning · → ⇒ each arrow = one more step of extension
關 · Related
少shǎothe bare phonetic — 沙 adds for the sand砂shāthe stone-radical twin — 砂 writes the same word with 石 for grit