禁区
jìn qū · HSK 7
restricted area
🚫 禁 forbid + 区 zone = a forbidden zone, an off-limits area
禁 (jìn) means to prohibit or ban; 区 (qū) means a zone, district, or region. Stack them and you get a banned region: a no-go area like a military 禁区 or a soccer penalty box.
区 — enclosure 匚 + 品 (items)
Originally a pictograph of items (品) hidden inside a container (匚), meaning to store or conceal. The sense extended to a bounded space, then to an administrative district or area. As a surname read Ōu, it preserves the older 'hidden/enclosed' nuance.