Dong Chinese dictionary

xiàn

boundary

Phonosemantic compound. 阝 represents the meaning and 艮 represents the sound.

Components

阝 Meaning component

fù

hill, place

阝 is a component form of 阜.

艮 Sound component

gěn, gèn

blunt

限 and 艮 don't sound similar in modern Mandarin due to historical phonetic changes. They were more similar in older Chinese.

Evolution

Bronze script

Mid Western Zhou (~900 BC)

Seal script

Shuowen (~100 AD)

Clerical script

Eastern Han dynasty (25-220 AD)

Regular script

Modern

Definitions

xiàn

boundary, limit, line; limit; bound; to set a limit (on)

Most common words with 限

Sources