国

Etymology & Components

The Chinese character 国 (guó) for "country" is a pictophonetic character, combining a phonetic component and a semantic component. The phonetic component is the character 囗 (wéi), which is a pictograph of a surrounding wall, representing the idea of enclosure or boundary. The semantic component is the character 玉 (yù), which is a pictograph of a piece of jade, representing the idea of value or preciousness. Together, the two components suggest the idea of a valuable or precious place that is enclosed or bounded, which is the meaning of the character 国.The character 国 has a long history in Chinese writing, dating back to the Shang dynasty (c. 1600-1046 BC). It was originally used to refer to a city-state or walled settlement, but over time it came to be used more broadly to refer to a country or nation. The character is also used in other East Asian languages, such as Japanese (kuni) and Korean (guk).The character 国 is a common character in Chinese, and it is used in a variety of words and phrases. Some examples include:* 国家 (guójiā): country* 国民 (guómín): citizen* 国旗 (guóqí): national flag* 国歌 (guógē): national anthem* 国庆节 (guóqìngjié): National Day