宗

Ideogrammatic compound:

宀 (roof, house) — semantic, indicating a house or enclosed structure.

示 (altar, spirit, ritual) — semantic, indicating ancestral rites and worship.

Together they depict a house with an altar inside, originally representing a shrine or ancestral hall (사당, 종묘) where lineage rituals were performed. From this physical sense, the meaning extended to ancestors, lineage, clan, and metaphorically to foundational principles, schools of thought, or sects.

Semantic range:

- ancestral shrine, temple;

- clan, lineage, ancestry;

- doctrine, creed, principle (종지 宗旨);

- sect, denomination (불교 종파);

- figurative: the origin, the main or foremost standard.

종묘 (宗廟) — royal ancestral shrine

종족 (宗族) — clan, lineage

종파 (宗派) — religious sect, denomination

종지 (宗旨) — guiding principle, doctrine

가톨릭교회는 기독교의 한 종파이다. — “The Catholic Church is one denomination of Christianity.”