結局
けっきょく · kekkyoku · JLPT N3 · adverb
eventually
🪢🏁 結 tie up + 局 the game = when the match is tied off, after all
局 is a board game or match, such as a game of Go. 結局 first meant the final settled position at the end of a game. It came to mean the outcome you reach in the end: eventually, after all. Sound hook: kekkyoku, a kick to close the game.
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.