境 means “border, boundary”

さかい · sakai

Also: region

Kun'yomi (Japanese reading)

さかい

On'yomi (Chinese reading)

キョウ, ケイ

JLPT N2 · Taught in grade 5 · 14 strokes

The story

Ground (土) where everything comes to an end (竟), as a song (音) does when it finishes: the border. 国境 is a national border, 環境 is your surroundings, and a shrine's 境内, read けいだい, is everything inside its sacred boundary.

Used in 国境 (kokkyou, national border), 環境 (kankyou, environment), and 境内 (keidai, shrine or temple grounds)

More from Maps & Borders

• 州 state
• 域 region
• 欧 Europe
• 辺 vicinity
• 湾 bay
• 周 around
• 央 center
• 河 river
• 坂 slope
• 郊 suburbs
• 湖 lake
• 島 island

Learn 境 and more kanji free on Fuji Learning · All kanji

Readings from KANJIDIC2, © EDRDG, CC BY-SA.