玄関
げんかん · genkan · JLPT N5 · noun
entrance
🚪👞 玄関 = dark/mysterious (玄) + gate/barrier (関): the gate you pass to enter
Originally a Zen term: the gateway to the profound (玄) teaching. It later named the entry of a temple, then of any home. Today the genkan is the entry area where shoes come off before stepping up into the house.
玄 — twisted silk threads, top stroke 亠 over 幺
玄 originally depicted a small bundle of twisted, dyed silk threads, suggesting the deep reddish-black color of the dye. From this concrete sense it shifted to mean 'dark' or 'black,' then extended metaphorically to 'mysterious,' 'profound,' or 'abstruse,' as in Daoist philosophy.