How to Write 畺 (jiāng) — Meaning “Boundary / Border”

Imagine three rice fields (田) stacked on top of each other, each separated by a horizontal line — that line is the border. Think of it as "field, field, field" with boundaries between them, matching the meaning of border.

Write the top 田 first, then the middle 田, then the bottom 田, keeping each 田 the same size and evenly spaced. A common mistake is making the middle 田 too large or misaligning it vertically with the other two.

畺 is unique because it has three 田 stacked vertically. In contrast, 略 means "brief" or "strategy" and has 田 on the left with 各 on the right, while 畦 means "field section" and has 田 on the left with 圭 on the right. So 畺 is purely a stack of fields, while the others are left-right compounds.

畺 is a classical or literary character mainly found in formal or historical terms about territory, such as 畺界 (boundary) and 畺土 (territory). It is not part of everyday vocabulary and is rarely used in modern spoken Chinese, but you may encounter it in historical texts or geography contexts.

Common words containing 畺 include: 畺界 (jiāng jiè) — Boundary / Border; 畺理 (jiāng lǐ) — To manage or administer land; 畺土 (jiāng tǔ) — Territory / Land.