寺院
じいん · jiin · JLPT N2 · noun
temple
🛕 寺院 = 寺 (temple) + 院 (institution): a temple, as an organized institution
院 originally meant a walled courtyard or large building, later an institution. Together with 寺, the word names a temple and its grounds.
寺 — earth 土 on top + inch 寸 below
Originally depicted a hand (寸) working at a place, denoting a court or government office in early Chinese. After Buddhism arrived in the Han dynasty, 寺 was reassigned to mean 'Buddhist temple' because foreign monks were first housed in such official buildings. The older 'office' sense survives in compounds like 太常寺.
院 — left ear 阝(阜) + complete 完
院 is a semantic-phonetic compound. The left 阝 (from 阜, mound/hill) suggests walls or enclosed terrain, hinting at an enclosed space. The right 完 (wán) provides the sound and originally meant 'complete', so 院 came to mean a walled courtyard or institution like a hospital or academy.