On the Borderline: Part 1
Friday, August 1st, 2008
| Quick Links Welcome to Kanji Curiosity | The Basics | Glossary |
In the last blog, we encountered the following words:
順境 (junkyō: favorable circumstances, prosperity)
favorable + situation環境 (kankyō: environment, situation)
to surround + situation
Clearly, 境 (KYŌ, KEI, sakai: boundary, situation) is clamoring for a closer look. For starters, it might help to crank up the size:
境
Taken alone, 境 strikes me as a cute, perky kanji—perhaps a distant cousin of 意 (I: will, heart, mind). Given that 境 breaks down into recognizable, simple components (土, 立, 日, and 儿), it’s not at all unfriendly.
But when it appears in 環境, I feel nearly blinded by the profusion of small lines going every which way. I can never seem to recognize this daunting compound. However, it is an important word, one that I hear from time to time.
The Appeal of Boundaries
So it’s time to tame this beast! Once we develop a solid level of familiarity with these two characters and even an affectionate relationship with them, everything will change. We’ll take on 境 first, examining 環 in later blogs.
It’s actually quite easy to love 境. Its original meaning is “boundary,” and I find the idea of boundaries intriguing. Sometimes the thinnest of boundaries separates two massive and powerful entities. Think of human skin: all that it keeps in, and all that it keeps out. Think of a building and how its exterior wall (also called skin) shields us from whipping winds and lashing rainstorms. Think of the border between China and Russia. (They do share a border, right? Please tell me I didn’t just pull a McCain.)
Photo Credit: © Claudia Hering
Posted by Eve Kushner in Kanji Curiosity | 3 Comments »
