際

Phono-semantic compound:

阜 (언덕 부, “mound, slope”) — semantic, indicating landforms or divided boundaries.

祭 (제사 제, “to offer sacrifice; to touch or approach”) — phonetic, providing the sound and an associated sense of contact or junction.

Originally, the character depicted places or surfaces touching precisely at their boundary, and by extension came to mean meeting point, border, or time of interaction.

국제(國際) — international, between nations

실제(實際) — reality, actuality

현실과 이상의 경계(際) — the border between reality and ideals

제때(際때) — at the right time, proper timing (from the same Sino-Korean root)

~할 제 — an older or dialectal form still used in spoken Korean meaning “when (something happens).”

Expressions such as “~의 際하여” or “~할 際에” (“on the occasion of ~”) were common in early modern Korean and formal writing.

The spoken Korean equivalent “~할 제” preserves the same classical structure and is still occasionally used by older generations.

The underlying idea of 際 — contact between two realms or times — made it a central concept in both physical and metaphorical contexts:

國際 - meeting of nations

時際 - meeting of moments

交際 - meeting of people

In Classical Chinese, 際 referred to “where two things meet or touch” — whether mountains, rivers, or abstract states such as time and opportunity.

It was often used in phrases such as:

際會 (제회) — “to meet by fate or opportunity.”

際遇 (제우) — “fortune; chance encounter.”

時際 (시제) — “temporal juncture; the period between two moments.”

In modern Chinese, it also gained the sense of “crossroads” or “intersection,” hence its common use in 國際 (international) and 交際 (social interaction).