驛

Phono-semantic compound:

馬 (마, horse) – semantic component, indicating relation to horses and travel.

睪 (역, to peep, to watch) – phonetic component, giving the sound yeok.

Historically important in East Asia’s postal systems (역참제, 郵驛制度).

驛站 (역참) — relay station in ancient times

驛馬 (역마) — post horse, horse used for official travel

驛舍 (역사) — station building, relay post house

驛口 (역구) — station entrance

Simplified form: 駅 (used in Japan and China).

Interestingly, this simplified form originated in Korea as an early shorthand, and was later adopted into Japanese Shinjitai and Chinese Simplified script.