境

境 (Kangxi radical 32, 土+11, 14 strokes, cangjie input 土卜廿山 (GYTU), four-corner 4011₆, composition ⿰土竟)

• KangXi: page 237, character 17
• Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 5409
• Dae Jaweon: page 475, character 23
• Hanyu Da Zidian (first edition): volume 1, page 482, character 6
• Unihan data for U+5883

Historical forms of the character 境
Shuowen Jiezi (compiled in Han)	Liushutong (compiled in Ming)
Small seal script	Transcribed ancient scripts

Phono-semantic compound (形聲, OC *kraŋʔ) : semantic 土 (“earth”) + phonetic 竟 (OC *kraŋs).

An allofam of 疆 (OC *kaŋ, “boundary”). Cognate with 竟 (OC *kraŋs, “to end”) (Schuessler, 2007).

境

1. border; boundary; frontier
2. place; area; region
3. condition; situation

(grade 5 “Kyōiku” kanji)

• Go-on: きょう (kyō, Jōyō)^{←きやう (kyau, historical)}
• Kan-on: けい (kei, Jōyō ^†)
• Kun: さかい (sakai, 境, Jōyō)^{←さかひ (sakafi, 境, historical)}; おわる (owaru, 境わる)^{←をはる (wofaru, 境はる, historical)}; さか (saka, 境); さかう (sakau, 境う)^{←さかふ (sakafu, 境ふ, historical)}
• Nanori: さかい (sakai)

From Middle Chinese 境 (MC kˠiæŋ^X).

• (Tokyo) きょ​ー [kyóꜜò] (Atamadaka – [1])[3]
• IPA^(key): [kʲo̞ː]

境(きょう) • (kyō) ^{←きやう (kyau)?}

1. region, environment
2. mental state
3. (Buddhism) something that can be perceived with the mind or senses

/sakapi/ → /sakaɸi/ → /sakahi/ → /sakai/

The 連用形 (ren'yōkei, “continuative or stem form”) of obsolete verb 境う (sakau, “to divide, to form a boundary between things”).[4][3]

Some sources[4] further derive the verb as Old Japanese element 境 (saka, “division, border, boundary”) + auxiliary verb ふ (fu) indicating repetition or ongoing state. However, given the semantics, this could also be analyzed as the repetitive or ongoing aspect of Old Japanese-derived verb saku with an underlying meaning of “to split apart, to separate, to put distance between”, spelled variously as 割く, 裂く, 離く, or 放く, and cognate with 咲く (saku, “to bloom”, from the idea of the blooms splitting open), 栄える (sakaeru, “to prosper”, extended from the bloom sense), 盛ん (sakan, “prospering, fluorishing”).

• 界 (less common)

• (Tokyo) さか​い [sàkáꜜì] (Nakadaka – [2])[3]
• IPA^(key): [sa̠ka̠i]

境(さかい) • (sakai) ^{←さかひ (sakafi)?}

1. border, boundary, limits

境(さかい) • (Sakai) ^{←さかひ (sakafi)?}

1. a surname

From Middle Chinese 境 (MC kˠiæŋ^X). Recorded as Middle Korean 겨ᇰ〯 (kyěng) (Yale: kyeng) in Hunmong Jahoe (訓蒙字會 / 훈몽자회), 1527.

Wikisource 境 (eumhun 지경 경 (jigyeong gyeong))

1. Hanja form^? of 경 (“border; boundary; frontier”).
2. Hanja form^? of 경 (“place; area; region”).
3. Hanja form^? of 경 (“condition; situation”).

• 국제퇴계학회 대구경북지부 (國際退溪學會 大邱慶北支部) (2007). Digital Hanja Dictionary, 전자사전／電子字典.

境: Hán Nôm readings: cảnh

1. This term needs a translation to English. Please help out and add a translation, then remove the text {{rfdef}}.