Where Have I Seen 域?

境域 (kyōiki: boundary, border, precincts, grounds)     boundary + region

I recognize 域 … kind of. But most likely I’m mixing it up with 感 (KAN: feelings).

The kanji 域 means “region, area.” We’ve seen it just once before in this blog:

ここは、この地域では飛び抜けて最高のシーフードレストランだ。
Koko wa, kono chiiki de wa tobinukete saikō no shīfūdo resutoran da.
This is by far the best seafood restaurant in this area.

地域 (chiiki: area, region)     region + region

Some other interesting 域 words:

全域 (zen’iki: the whole area)     whole + area
封域 (hōiki: country’s borders or territory)
     to enclose + area
音域 (on’iki: singing range)     sound + region

The breakdown is wonderful, but I would almost prefer to see something like sound + boundary as the ingredients. Oh, well. No one consulted me when they concocted kanji, and I’ll just have to make my peace with that. Note: 音域 is not limited to a person’s “singing range.” It applies to pitch ranges of instruments, too. The Japanese refer to instruments as “singing” metaphorically.

空域 (kūiki: airspace)     sky + region
地域 (chiiki: region, area, zone)     region + region

地域的 (chiikiteki: local, regional)
     region + region + adjectival suffix
地域差 (chiikisa: regional differences)
     region + region + difference

異域 (iiki: foreign lands)      strange + region

The first kanji means “uncommon, queerness, strangeness, wonderful, curious, unusual.”

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