A Brief Tribute to 点

First, the character in all its glory (not really), as found in Langenscheidt's Kanji und Kana 1:


The meaning and the main reading follow, along with some examples and some purely subjective interpretations of the character:

POINT （テン）
点く - tsuku, light up, kindle, ignite*
点字 - tenji, Braille
句点 - kuten, period (句点です。)
読点 - touten, comma (日本語が良くできないから、間違いはたぶんありますよ。)
出発点 - shuppatsuten, starting point
. . . and, best of all:
点取り虫 - tentorimushi, someone who works hard in the hope of getting good marks (apparently something like a "swot", but I've never heard that term before) -- The first character, as you have hopefully realized, means "point(s)", the second character means "get, catch, take, etc.", and the last character means "insect", so the image is clear. :o)

Interpretations: a long-snouted creature scrabbling along on four legs, a boat in the water (Grimsly), a showerhead (my hermit friend), or a dictator on a balcony saluting an appreciative crowd (Gnomey)

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* Similar to, but not the same as 点ける (tsukeru). As I understand it, they are used as follows: 火が点きました。 (The fire ignited.)　火を点けました。 ([I] lit/ignited the fire.) One is intransitive, while the other is transitive. But I may well be wrong about some or all of the above (corrections are welcome). For example, I think 点く　(or rather, つ・く) counts as a reading (though a rarer one), so it should be beside テン rather than among the examples.