Why is the meaning of kanji 閑 "leisure"?


The kanji 閑 contains 門 + 木. Why does gate + tree mean 'leisure'?




The word meaning _leisure_ was originally written as「閒」.

「閒」depicts _moonlight_ 「月」streaming through a _door_ 「門」, indicating the
original meaning _crack, space_. This was extended to mean _free time,
leisure_.「閒」is no longer used, so:

  * _Space_ is now written as「間」
  * _Free time, leisure_ borrowed the identically pronounced character「閑」.

「閑」is a compound of a _wooden_ obstruction「木」blocking a _door_ 「門」, indicating
the original meaning _fence, railing, obstruction_. This meaning is no longer
used by the character「閑」, so there is no confusion as to what「閑」means.

> The word representing the original meaning of「[閑]{げん・かん}」([
> _Zhengzhang_](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reconstructions_of_Old_Chinese#Zhengzhang_\(1981%E2%80%931995\))
> [OC](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Old_Chinese): **/*ɡreːn/** ) is cognate
> to「[欄]{らん}」( **/*ɡ·raːn/** ; _handrail_ ) and possibly「限{げん・かん}」(
> **/*ɡrɯːnʔ/** ; _boundary, limit_ ).




The word meaning _leisure_ was originally written as「閒」.

「閒」depicts _moonlight_ 「月」streaming through a _door_ 「門」, indicating the
original meaning _crack, space_. This was extended to mean _free time,
leisure_.「閒」is no longer used, so:

  * _Space_ is now written as「間」
  * _Free time, leisure_ borrowed the identically pronounced character「閑」.

「閑」is a compound of a _wooden_ obstruction「木」blocking a _door_ 「門」, indicating
the original meaning _fence, railing, obstruction_. This meaning is no longer
used by the character「閑」, so there is no confusion as to what「閑」means.

> The word representing the original meaning of「[閑]{げん・かん}」([
> _Zhengzhang_](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reconstructions_of_Old_Chinese#Zhengzhang_\(1981%E2%80%931995\))
> [OC](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Old_Chinese): **/*ɡreːn/** ) is cognate
> to「[欄]{らん}」( **/*ɡ·raːn/** ; _handrail_ ) and possibly「限{げん・かん}」(
> **/*ɡrɯːnʔ/** ; _boundary, limit_ ).

