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
Google
Bing
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
Affiliate links help support uK.
— 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.