界 means “world, boundary”

かい · kai

On'yomi (Chinese reading)

カイ

JLPT N4 · Taught in grade 3 · 9 strokes

The story

A rice field (田) divided by a boundary (介): where one world ends and another begins. Combined with 世, it forms 世界 (sekai, the world). In Japanese thought, every realm (spiritual, natural, human) has its own 界.

Used in 世界 (sekai, world) and 限界 (genkai, limit/boundary)

More from Society & Government

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• 会 meeting
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Readings from KANJIDIC2, © EDRDG, CC BY-SA.