Definitions

border, limit, frontier; dike

Etymology phono-semantic

earth

Semantic: Phonetic:

About

is a phono-semantic compound composed of the semantic radical (earth, soil) and the phonetic component , which suggests the pronunciation. It originally denoted a boundary, border, or dividing line between agricultural fields, territories, or plots of land. Traditional field boundaries were often raised earthen ridges, which explains the use of the earth radical to physically represent these divisions. The character is deeply associated with land division and agricultural surveying, and it commonly appears in classical texts addressing territorial limits and property demarcations.

Etymology Hide

Seal etymology image
Seal Shuowen (~100 AD)
Traditional Modern
Simplified Modern