内乱
ないらん · nairan · JLPT N1 · noun
civil war
⚔️ 内 = inside + 乱 = disorder: chaos within one's own country
内 means inside or domestic, and 乱 means disorder or revolt. Together they name fighting that breaks out inside a nation's own borders, unlike a war against outsiders.
内 — enclosure 冂 + enter 入
内 originally depicted something entering (入) into an enclosed space (冂), giving the core sense of 'inside' or 'within'. The pictographic image of going into a covered area extended naturally to meanings like inner, internal, and inland. It contrasts with 外 ('outside').
乱 — hand 又 + tangled silk 𠬪/乿 component
乱 is the simplified form of 亂. The traditional character depicts hands above and below untangling silk threads on a frame, with 乙 on the right. It originally meant 'to put tangled threads in order,' but came to mean both 'disorder' and 'to govern chaos.'