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

Glyph origin

Historical forms of the character 界
Small seal script

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

Pronunciation

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

(grade 3 “Kyōiku” kanji)

1. world
2. border

Readings

• Goon: け (ke) (non-Jōyō reading)
• Kan’on: かい (kai)
• Kun: さかい (sakai)

Etymology 1

From Middle Chinese 界 ‎(kɛj^H , “boundary”).

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

Pronunciation

• On'yomi: Kan'on
• (Tokyo) か​い [káꜜì] (Atamadaka - [1])^[2]
• IPA^(key): [ka̠i]

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

/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

• Kun'yomi
• (Tokyo) さか​い [sàkáꜜì] (Nakadaka - [2])^[2]
• IPA^(key): [sa̠ka̠i]

Alternative forms

• 境

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}}.