界

Translingual

Stroke order

Stroke order (Japan)

Han character

界 (Kangxi radical 102, 田+4, 9 strokes, cangjie input 田人中中 (WOLL), four-corner 4612₈, composition ⿱田介(G) or ⿳田八⿰丿丨(HTJKV))

Derived characters

• 堺, 𨺬, 楐, 琾, 𤋽, 䛺, 鎅, 𠝹, 𤲂, 𰂽

References

• Kangxi Dictionary: page 760, character 18
• Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 21775
• Dae Jaweon: page 1170, character 11
• Hanyu Da Zidian (first edition): volume 4, page 2534, character 2
• Unihan data for U+754C

Chinese

Glyph origin

Historical forms of the character 界
Shuowen Jiezi (compiled in Han)
Small seal script

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *kreːds) : semantic 田 (“field”) + phonetic 介 (OC *kreːds).

Pronunciation

Definitions

界

1. boundary

   境界  ―  jìngjiè  ―  boundary; state

   中華人民共和國省界糾紛 [MSC, trad.]
   中华人民共和国省界纠纷 [MSC, simp.]

   Zhōnghuá Rénmín Gònghéguó shěngjiè jiūfēn

   PRC provincial boundary dispute

2. domain; realm; zone; area
3. circle; world; industry

   音樂界／音乐界  ―  yīnyuèjiè  ―  the music world; music circles

4. (taxonomy) kingdom

Compounds

See also

• (Taxonomy) 生物分類學／生物分类学; 域 (yù, “domain”), 界 (jiè, “kingdom”), 門／门 (mén, “phylum”), 綱／纲 (gāng, “class”), 目 (mù, “order”), 科 (kē, “family”), 屬／属 (shǔ, “genus”), 種／种 (zhǒng, “species”) ^{(Category: zh:Taxonomy)}

References

• “界”, in 漢語多功能字庫 (Multi-function Chinese Character Database)‎, 香港中文大學 (the Chinese University of Hong Kong), 2014–

Japanese

Kanji

(grade 3 “Kyōiku” kanji)

1. world
2. border

Readings

(Can we verify⁽⁺⁾ this pronunciation?)

• Go-on: け (ke)
• Kan-on: かい (kai, Jōyō)
• Kun: さかい (sakai, 界)^{←さかひ (sakafi, 界, historical)}

Etymology 1

From Middle Chinese 界 (MC keajH, “boundary”).

In Buddhist contexts, derived from the Middle Chinese term used as a translation of Sanskrit धातु (dhātu, “layer, stratum”).

Pronunciation

• (Tokyo) か​い (Atamadaka – )
• IPA^(key):

Noun

界(かい) • (kai) 

1. boundary
2. a bounded area or region
3. a bounded group of people, a society, a world as a social grouping, such as business, celebrities, or finance

   Used both as a standalone noun, and in compounds. Use in compounds is more common in this sense.

   自然(しぜん)の界(かい)、自然(しぜん)界(かい)

   shizen no kai, shizenkai

   the natural world

   美術界(びじゅつかい)

   bijutsukai

   the art world

4. the border edge of a thing
5. (Buddhism) the category of a thing
6. (Buddhism) the world or realm of a thing
7. lines drawn between the lines of a text, as on lined writing paper
8. lines drawn to lay out a draft of a piece of artwork: a sketch
9. (biology, taxonomy) a kingdom
10. (geology) a stratum corresponding to a geologic age

Coordinate terms

• (Taxonomy) 生物(せいぶつ)の分類(ぶんるい) (seibutsu no bunrui); ドメイン (domein, “domain”), 界(かい) (kai, “kingdom”), 門(もん) (mon, “phylum”), 綱(こう) (kō, “class”), 目(もく) (moku, “order”), 科(か) (ka, “family”), 属(ぞく) (zoku, “genus”), 種(しゅ) (shu, “species”) ^{(Category: ja:Taxonomy)}

Derived terms

Etymology 2

Usage notes

• More commonly spelled 境. Derived terms primarily use that spelling, so see that entry for more details.

References

Korean

Etymology

From Middle Chinese 界 (MC keajH). Recorded as Middle Korean 계〯 (kyěy) (Yale: kyey) in Hunmong Jahoe (訓蒙字會 / 훈몽자회), 1527.

Hanja

Korean Wikisource has texts containing the hanja:

界

Wikisource

界 (eumhun 지경 계 (jigyeong gye))

1. Hanja form^? of 계 (“boundary”).

Compounds

References

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

Vietnamese

Han character

界: Hán Nôm readings: giới

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