无限
wúxiàn · HSK 4
infinite
♾️ 无 (without) + 限 (limit) = without limit = infinite
无 means without/none; 限 means limit/restrict. Together: without limits, hence infinite or boundless. Common in math (无限大 = infinity) and everyday speech (无限可能 = unlimited possibilities).
无 — top 一 + 林-like middle + fire radical 灬 below
Originally a pictograph of a person dancing while holding ornaments or tassels, meaning 'to dance' — the ancestor of 舞. It was borrowed phonetically to write the negative 'not have / without,' and the dance meaning was reassigned to 舞 with an added foot element. The simplified form 无 comes from an ancient variant.
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.