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境

jìng
noun #15,651

Meanings

  1. 1 border; territory; boundary
  2. 2 condition; circumstances
  3. 3 realm; state

Examples

环境保护很重要。
Huánjìng bǎohù hěn zhòngyào.
Environmental protection is important.
他的处境很困难。
Tā de chǔjìng hěn kùnnan.
His situation is very difficult.
入境需要签证。
Rùjìng xūyào qiānzhèng.
You need a visa to enter the country.

Tips

usage
境 is used in: 环境 (environment), 境界 (realm/level), 处境 (situation/plight), 入境 (to enter a country), 出境 (to leave a country), 困境 (predicament), 心境 (state of mind).

Components

radical
土 tǔ
earth; ground
Left earth radical, the side-compressed form of 土. Borders and territories were historically marked by mounds of packed earth at the edges of fields, so 土 anchors 境 in the family of land and boundary characters (地 land, 城 city wall, 域 region).
phonetic
竟 jìng
eventually; in the end (here phonetic + semantic)
Right 竟 — originally 'to finish a piece of music' — supplies the sound jìng directly. The 'finishing, terminating' flavour leaks into the meaning: a border is where one territory finally ends. Same phonetic appears in 镜 mirror; the cluster cleanly distinguishes border (土) from reflective metal (钅).

Stroke Order

境 jìng