结局
jiéjú · HSK 7
ending
🏁 结 conclude/tie + 局 situation = how a situation ties up: the ending
结 jié means to tie or conclude (same 结 as in 结束 finish); 局 jú is a situation or set-up (as in a chess game or a scheme). Put together, 结局 is how the whole set-up gets tied off: the final outcome or ending.
结 — silk radical 糸 + lucky 吉 (phonetic)
结 is a semantic-phonetic compound. The silk radical 糸 on the left signals the meaning, since the original sense was tying threads or cords into knots. The right side 吉 (jí) provides the sound. From the literal 'knot' it extended to figurative senses like 'bind,' 'conclude,' or 'form (a bond).'
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.