郊 means “suburbs, outskirts”

こう · kou

Also: rural area

On'yomi (Chinese reading)

コウ

JLPT N2 · Taught in secondary school · 9 strokes

The story

Where the town (阝) crosses (交) into open fields: the outskirts. 郊外 is the suburbs, and 東京近郊 is the commuter belt around Tokyo, where millions live and ride crowded trains into the city every morning.

Used in 郊外 (kougai, suburbs) and 近郊 (kinkou, outskirts/surrounding area)

More from Maps & Borders

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

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

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