圉 (yǔ): horse stable

Meanings

1 horse stable
2 groom (one who tends horses)
3 frontier
4 border region

Characters

圉

yǔ

stable / frontier

Examples

古代设有圉人，专司养马。

Gǔdài shèyǒu yǔ rén, zhuān sī yǎng mǎ.

In ancient times there was an official called yǔrén, in charge of tending horses.

亦聊以固吾圉也。

Yì liáo yǐ gù wú yǔ yě.

It will also serve to secure our frontier. (《左传》)

Tips

memory

The 囗 (enclosure) radical wraps everything inside - fitting for both meanings: an enclosed corral for horses, and an enclosed border zone of a state. The inside element 幸 hints at 'safety / fortune' kept within.

register

Classical Chinese only. You will see it in 《左传》, 《周礼》, and the compound 圉人 (yǔrén, royal groom). Never used in modern speech.

Components

radical

囗 wéi

enclosure; pen

Outer enclosure radical - the big square wrapping the inside, top-left and top-right strokes first and closed on the last horizontal. Distinct from the smaller 口 mouth. As the indexing radical it carries the meaning: 圉 is a fenced pen for horses or a walled frontier. Family: 国, 园, 困.

semantic

幸 xìng

lucky; fortunate (here a fetter)

Inside 幸 - the modern shape pictures 'lucky' but the original glyph was a wooden fetter for criminals. Combined with the enclosure outside, 圉 reads as 'shackled prisoner kept in a pen' - the etymology of a guarded horse-stable, and secondarily of a guarded frontier zone.