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Definition 2025

界

界

See also: 畍

Translingual

Stroke order
Japanese stroke order

Han character

界 (radical 102 田+4, 9 strokes, cangjie input 田人中中 (WOLL), four-corner 46128, composition ⿱田介)

  1. boundary, limit
  2. domain, realm, zone, area
  3. society
  4. the world

References

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

Chinese

simp. and trad.
 界

Glyph origin

Historical forms of the character 界
Small seal script
Characters in the same phonetic series (介) (Zhengzhang, 2003) 
Old Chinese
妎 *ɡaːds, *ɡeːds
芥 *kreːds
尬 *kreːds
界 *kreːds
介 *kreːds
疥 *kreːds
玠 *kreːds
砎 *kreːds, *kreːd, *ɡraːd
魪 *kreːds
价 *kreːds
衸 *kreːds, *ɡreːds
齘 *ɡreːds
骱 *ɡaːd, *kreːd
扴 *kreːd
圿 *kreːd
忦 *kreːd

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

Pronunciation

Rime
Character 界
Reading # 1/1
Initial (聲) 見 (28)
Final (韻) 皆 (33)
Tone (調) Departing (H)
Openness (開合) Open
Division (等) II
Fanqie 古拜切
Reconstructions
Zhengzhang
Shangfang		 /kˠɛiH/
Pan
Wuyun		 /kᵚæiH/
Shao
Rongfen		 /kɐiH/
Edwin
Pulleyblank		 /kəɨjH/
Li
Rong		 /kɛiH/
Wang
Li		 /kɐiH/
Bernard
Karlgren		 /kăiH/
Expected
Mandarin
Reflex		 jiè
Baxter-Sagart system 1.1 (2014)
Character 界
Reading # 1/1
Modern
Beijing
(Pinyin)		 jiè
Middle
Chinese		 ‹ kɛjH ›
Old
Chinese		 /*kˤr[e][t]-s/
English boundary

Notes for Old Chinese notations in the Baxter-Sagart system:

* Parentheses "()" indicate uncertain presence;
* Square brackets "[]" indicate uncertain identity, e.g. *[t] as coda may in fact be *-t or *-p;
* Angle brackets "<>" indicate infix;
* Hyphen "-" indicates morpheme boundary;

* Period "." indicates syllable boundary.
Zhengzhang system (2003)
Character 界
Reading # 1/1
No. 6524
Phonetic
component		 介
Rime
group		 祭
Rime
subdivision		 2
Corresponding
MC rime		 誡
Old
Chinese		 /*kreːds/

Definitions

界

  1. boundary
    境界  ―  jìngjiè  ―  boundary; state
  2. domain; realm; zone; area
  3. circle; world
    音樂界 / 音乐界  ―  yīnyuèjiè  ―  the music world; music circles
  4. (biology) kingdom

Compounds

Japanese

Kanji

界

(grade 3 “Kyōiku” kanji)

  1. world
  2. border

Readings

Etymology 1

Kanji in this term
界
かい
Grade: 3
on'yomi

From Middle Chinese 界 ‎(kɛjH , “boundary”).

In Buddhist contexts, derived from the Middle Chinese term used as a translation of the Sanskrit term धातु ‎(dhātu, “layer, stratum”).[1]

Pronunciation

Noun

界 ‎(hiragana かい, romaji kai)

  1. boundary
  2. a bounded area or region
  3. a bounded group of people, a society, a world as a social grouping
    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
Derived terms

Etymology 2

Kanji in this term
界
さかい
Grade: 3
kun'yomi

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

The 連用形 ‎(ren'yōkei, “continuative or stem form”) of verb 境う ‎(sakau, “to divide, to form a boundary between things”), derived as Old Japanese element 境 ‎(saka, “division, border, boundary”) + auxiliary verb ふ ‎(fu) indicating repetition or ongoing state.[1][2]

Pronunciation

Alternative forms

Noun

界 ‎(hiragana さかい, romaji sakai)

  1. border, boundary, limits
Usage notes

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

References

  1. 1 2 1988, 国語大辞典（新装版） (Kokugo Dai Jiten, Revised Edition) (in Japanese), Tōkyō: Shogakukan
  2. 1 2 3 2006, 大辞林 (Daijirin), Third Edition (in Japanese), Tōkyō: Sanseidō, ISBN 4-385-13905-9

Korean

Hanja

界 • ‎(gye) (hangeul 계, revised gye, McCune-Reischauer kye, Yale kyey)

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

Vietnamese

Han character

界 (giới)

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

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