峽

Phono-semantic compound:

山 (산, “mountain”) — semantic, indicating geographical feature.

夾 (협, “to press between, to squeeze”) — phonetic, giving sound and suggesting the sense of “being squeezed in between.”

Thus originally meant “a place where mountains press together,” i.e., a gorge or narrow valley.

峽谷 (협곡) — canyon, ravine.

三峽 (삼협) — the Three Gorges on the Yangtze River in China.

Appears often in geographical names across China, Korea, and Japan.

Traditional form: 峽. Simplified Chinese: 峡, where 夾 is simplified.

Shares the same phonetic 夾 with other characters like 狹 (narrow), signifying “narrowness, being pressed in.”

In Korean Hanja usage, 협(峽) is usually restricted to literary, geographical, and academic contexts.