郊区
jiāoqū · HSK 5
outskirts
🏘️ 郊 (outskirts) + 区 (district) = suburban district on the city's edge
郊 means the open land outside a city wall; 区 means a zone or district. Together they name the belt of housing and fields just past the urban core — the suburbs.
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.