全局
quán jú · HSK 7
overall situation
🌐 全 = whole/all + 局 = situation/setup, so the whole setup = the overall situation
全 means complete or entire; 局 means a situation, layout, or office/bureau. Together 全局 is the entire situation taken as one whole. Sound: quán jú rhymes with chwan jyoo.
全 — enter 入 on top + jade 玉
Originally written as 入 (enter) over 玉 (jade), depicting a complete, unflawed piece of jade kept in storage. From this image of a perfect jade came the meanings 'whole,' 'complete,' and 'entire.' The top component is sometimes written as 人.
局 — 尸 (body/shelter) + 句 (phrase, phonetic)
局 originally depicted a confined space marked off by a boundary, with 尸 suggesting an enclosed shelter and 句 hinting at the sound. From 'enclosed area' it extended to mean a chessboard square, then a defined situation, office, or bureau. Modern senses like 'department' and 'situation' grew from this idea of a bounded scope.