窮

It is a phono-semantic compound, composed of:

穴 (cave, dwelling) – semantic element, associated with shelter, holes, confinement;

躬 (gung, body, personally) – phonetic element, contributing sound and reinforcing the idea of personal involvement or hardship.

Depicts the image of a person confined within a cave (穴) and personally pressed (躬), symbolizing having no way out. From this, it developed the senses of destitution, poverty, extremity, and ultimate limits.

Semantic range:

- to exhaust, to come to an end – “to reach the ultimate limit.”

- to be destitute, impoverished – by extension, “to lack, to be in poverty.”

- to be pressed, cornered – in the sense of “having no way out.”

- to investigate thoroughly, to pursue to the end – as in 窮理 (궁리, to reason out, probe into principles).

It remains a core literary and modern morpheme across East Asian languages for poverty and reaching an extreme end.

궁하다 (窮하다) – to be poor, to be pressed, to be at a loss

궁핍 (窮乏) – destitution, poverty

빈궁 (貧窮) – poverty

궁색 (窮塞) – poor, shabby; also a lame excuse

궁리 (窮理) – to deliberate, to ponder, to reason through

궁극 (窮極) – ultimate, final, extreme