近

It is a phono-semantic compound, consisting of:

辵 (chwak/착, “to walk slowly, to go”) as the semantic element;

斤 (geun, “axe”) as the phonetic element.

One of the most common hanja in everyday words (근처, 인근, 근래).

Frequently used in contrast with 원 (遠, far).

Common compounds:

근처 (近處) – vicinity, nearby;

근래 (近來) – recent times;

근접 (近接) – approach, nearness;

인근 (附近) – neighborhood, nearby area;

가까울 근 (近) – basic meaning in names/terms;