Characters belonging to the Earth element in the Five Elements carry an implication of steadiness and are often used in naming and fate analysis.

Characters belonging to the Earth element are one category of Chinese characters classified according to the five attributes of metal, wood, water, fire and earth in traditional Five Elements theory. Earth in the Five Elements represents the great ground, symbolizing bearing, inclusiveness and nourishment, so characters belonging to Earth often give people a feeling of weightiness, stability and dependability. In traditional applications such as naming and fate analysis, such characters are often used to make up for a lack in the Five Elements or to strengthen the implication of Earth.

From the perspective of character form, Earth-element characters mostly carry radicals such as earth, mountain, field and stone, for example Kun, Pei, Cheng, Jun, Feng, Yan, Lei and Qi. Some characters are classified according to meaning, such as Yu, An, Chen, Yao and Yuan, which are closely related to land, dwellings or direction. In farming culture, land is the foundation for crops to grow, so many Earth-element characters also carry favorable associations of harvest, stability and accumulation.

The most common use of such characters is in naming. There is a folk custom of judging the favorable and unfavorable elements in the Five Elements according to the birth horoscope; if it is believed that earth is lacking in one's fate or that earth is favored, Earth-element characters will be chosen for the name, expressing the hope that the child will have an honest and generous nature and act steadily. In addition, such characters often appear in shop names, place names and literary creation, used to convey an image of reliability and steadiness.

It should be noted that the methods for determining Five Elements attribution are not uniform; some look at radicals and components, some look at character meaning or stroke count, and the character lists given by different sources may differ. When choosing, it is advisable to compare multiple sources and take into account pronunciation, meaning and overall combination, rather than looking only at the attribute while ignoring the beauty and harmony of the name itself.