局限
jú xiàn · HSK 7
to limit
🚧 局 (confined situation/office) + 限 (limit) = kept within set bounds
限 carries the boundary idea (same 限 as 限制 restrict). 局 narrows the scope to a confined situation, so 局限 means restricting something inside fixed limits.
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.
限 — mound radical 阝 + 艮 (phonetic)
限 combines the 阝 (mound/hill) radical on the left with 艮 on the right, which provides the sound. The mound element suggests a boundary or barrier formed by terrain, and the character came to mean 'limit' or 'boundary' — the edge one cannot cross.