中
jung
Why the 中 of 'in a meeting' is the same character as 'middle'
The picture A box with a single bar driven straight down through its middle. 中 is inside the line, at its middle; 外 is outside the line.
Where the picture shows up in 中
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equally far from both ends
중앙(中央) 출구로 나오세요.
jung-ang chul-gu-ro na-o-se-yo
Come out the center exit.
A door set the same number of paces from the left wall as from the right
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gathering to the middle
지금은 일에 집중(集中)하세요.
ji-geu-meun i-re jip-jung-ha-se-yo
Concentrate on the work for now.
Gazes scattered in every direction drawing in to one point on the desk
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the whole time you are inside
지금 회의 중(中)이에요.
ji-geum hoe-ui jung-i-e-yo
They're in a meeting right now.
People seated in a room whose door is still shut, somewhere between the start and the end
The middle becomes a stretch of time, not a place.
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between the head and the tail
중간(中間)에 한 번 쉬어요.
jung-ga-ne han beon swi-eo-yo
We'll take one break in the middle.
A dot marked at the waist of a long line, neither at its front nor its back
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the box between the ones above and below
아들이 중학교(中學校)에 가요.
a-deu-ri jung-hak-gyo-e ga-yo
My son is going to middle school.
The middle box wedged between the elementary box and the high-school box
All of it in one picture
中 is the bar through the middle of a frame. The spot equally far from both walls is the center; when scattered gazes gather onto that one point, that is concentration. When you are inside, between the start and the end, the meeting is in progress; the waist of a line, neither its head nor its tail, is halfway. And the box wedged between elementary and high is middle school.