郭 means “enclosure, outer wall, outline”

かく · kaku

Also: quarters, fortification, red-light district

Kun'yomi (Japanese reading): くるわ
On'yomi (Chinese reading): カク

JLPT N1 · Taught in secondary school · 11 strokes

The story

Picture a town (阝 on the right) behind a towering gatehouse (享): the outer ring of a castle town. 城郭 are castle defenses, a 遊郭 was a walled pleasure quarter, and the word readers meet most is 輪郭, an outline, the wall drawn around a shape.

Used in 輪郭 (rinkaku, outline/contour), 城郭 (joukaku, castle/fortifications), and 遊郭 (yuukaku, walled pleasure quarter)

郭 means “enclosure, outer wall, outline”

The story

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