国（guó）
 
字形：
在甲骨文中，“国”写作“或”， 古代“或”字像用武器（戈）保卫城市。口形四周的短线表示国家疆界。“或”字被用于“或者”的“或”以后，人们就专门造出一个字表示国家，即在“或”的四周增加方形以此表示疆域，于是成为“國”字，现在简化为“国”，本义指邦国，后引申为国家的意思。
In oracle bones inscriptions, “国” was written as “或”, carrying the meaning of defending a city with weapons (戈). The short lines on the four sides  of "口" indicated national boundary. After "或" was used to mean  "or", people created a specific character to mean "country", which was "或" with a square, meaning boundary. Hence it turned to be "國". Its simplified form is "国". The original meaning "国" was state, and then it was extended to mean “ country”.
 
字义：
country; state; nation
 
组词：
国家（guójiā）： country; state; nation
国宝（guóbǎo）：national treasure
国粹（guócuì）：the quintessence of national culture
国画（guóhuà）：traditional Chinese painting
国籍（guójí）：nationality
国际（guójì）：international
国际贸易（guójì màoyì）：international trade
 
例句：
Dàxióngmāo shì zhōngguó de guóbǎo.
1、大熊猫是中国的国宝。
Panda is a national treasure of China.
Jīngjù shì zhōngguó de “guócuì ”, yǐjīng yǒu èrbǎi nián de lìshǐ le.
2、京剧是中国的“国粹”，已经有200年的历史了。
Beijing Opera is the quintessence of Chinese culture with the history of over 200 years.
Wǒ de Zhuānyè shì guójì màoyì.
3、我的专业是国际贸易。
My major is International Trade.