國
부수: 囗
획수: 8획
國 has the meanings kingdom, country and nation.
國 = 囗 + 或
X = semantic + semantic/phonetic
• 囗 depicts a border and represents the meaning ‘city wall’.
• 或 represents the meaning ‘defending a defined area with weapons’ and gives 國 its sound.
Evolution:
國 = area ➔ country ➔ nation
或 = 
+ 戈
• 
represents ‘an area with a border’.
That is, 囗 represents the area; and, 一 above and below it represents the border.
• 戈 depicts a dagger or halberd and represents the meaning ‘weapon’.
Mnemonic
Imagine a halberd carrying soldier 戈 protecting the walls of Suwon Fortress 囗. He protects his kingdom 國 from foreign invaders.
Vocabulary
| 王國 | 왕국 | kingdom |
| 三國時代 | 삼국시대 | The Three Kingdoms Period |
| 김밥天國 | 김밥천국 | Kimbap Heaven |
| 各國 | 각국 | various countries |
| 國內 | 국내 | domestic |
| 國際 | 국제 | international |
| 英國 | 영국 | England |
| 外國人 | 외국인 | foreigner |
| 先進國 | 선진국 | a developed country |
| 愛國者 | 애국자 | patriot |
| 國家 | 국가 | nation |
| 國旗 | 국기 | national flag |
| 國民 | 국민 | citizen |
| 國會 | 국회 | national assembly |
| 國語 | 국어 | national language |
| 國債 | 국채 | national debt |
| 全國 | 전국 | the whole nation |
Other resources
Image searches
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Yahoo Japan
Baidu (click 图片)
Sogou
Pinterest
Flickr
CJKV
CJKV Dict
Wikitionary
Unihan Database
Korean
Chinese
Written Chinese
Arch Chinese
ZDic
CC-Canto
Chinese Text Project
The Chinese University of Hong Kong (etymology)
Chinese Boost
Japanese
Takoboto
Jisho
JLearn.net
Sakura
The Kanji Map
Sentence Search
Immersion Kit
Vietnamese
Bibliography
— Daum 사전, [s.v. 國].
— Grant, B.K. (1982). A Guide To Korean Characters: Reading and Writing Hangul and Hanja, [s.v. 902]. Seoul: Hollym.
— Outlier Dictionary of Chinese Characters, [s.v. 國, 囗, 或, 戈].
— Seely, C., Henshall, K.G., & Fan, J. (2016). The Complete Guide to Japanese Kanji: Remembering and Understanding the 2,136 Standard Japanese Characters, [s.v. 136]. Singapore: Tuttle Publishing.