boundary

English

Etymology

From bound +‎ -ary, Old French, from Latin.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈbaʊndɹi/
• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈbaʊndəɹi/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Audio (General Australian):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -aʊndɹi

Noun

boundary (plural boundaries)

1. the dividing line or location between two areas
   • 1908, W[illiam] B[lair] M[orton] Ferguson, chapter IV, in Zollenstein, New York, N.Y.: D. Appleton & Company, →OCLC, page 40:

     So this was my future home, I thought! […] Backed by towering hills, the but faintly discernible purple line of the French boundary off to the southwest, a sky of palest Gobelin flecked with fat, fleecy little clouds, it in truth looked a dear little city; the city of one's dreams.

   • 2017 October, Juin-Jen Chang, Ching-Chong Lai, Ping Wang, “A Tale of Two Cities: Cross-Border Casino Competition Between Detroit and Windsor”, in NBER WORKING PAPER SERIES‎^[1], archived from the original on 2021-08-15, page 1:

     City or national boundaries are locations of economic opportunity, especially if the existence of the border is itself the source of a monopoly situation that favors one side over the other (Krakover, 1997).

2. (figurative, often in the plural) the bounds, confines, or limits between immaterial things (such as one’s comfort zone, privacy, or professional sphere and the realm beyond)

   I didn’t mean to push the boundaries by sending my boss a message on Saturday night.

3. (cricket) an edge or line marking an edge of the playing field
4. (cricket) an event whereby the ball is struck and either touches or passes over a boundary (with or without bouncing), usually resulting in an award of 4 (four) or 6 (six) runs respectively for the batting team
5. (topology) (of a set) the set of points in the closure of a set $S$, not belonging to the interior of that set
6. (Philippines) commission paid by a bus or jeepney driver to a public transportation operator for taking passengers, or the excess collected fares taken as daily wage

Derived terms

• boundaried
• boundariless, boundaryless
• Boundary Commission
• boundary condition
• boundary corner
• Boundary County
• boundary four
• boundary group
• boundary homomorphism
• boundary line
• boundary map
• Boundary Peak
• boundary point
• boundary rider
• boundary scan
• boundary stone
• boundary term
• boundary umpire
• coboundary
• geoboundary
• grain boundary
• isoboundary
• Kootenay Boundary
• K-T boundary
• lower boundary
• missing boundary
• natural boundary
• Northwestern Boundary Dispute
• outflow boundary
• San Juan Boundary Dispute
• surface boundary layer
• transboundary
• upper boundary

Related terms

• bound

Translations

dividing line or location between two areas

• Arabic: حَدّ (ar) m (ḥadd)
• Armenian: սահման (hy) (sahman)
• Assamese: সীমানা (ximana)
• Belarusian: мяжа́ f (mjažá), грані́ца f (hraníca)
• Bengali: সীমানা (bn) (śimana)
• Bulgarian: гра́ница (bg) f (gránica)
• Catalan: frontera (ca) f, terme (ca) m
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 邊界 / 边界 (zh) (biānjiè)

• Czech: hranice (cs) f
• Dutch: grens (nl)
• Estonian: piir (et)
• Finnish: raja (fi), reuna (fi), rajaviiva
• French: frontière (fr) f, limite (fr) f
• Gagauz: graniţa, граница (graniţa)
• Galician: fronteira f, estrema (gl), linde (gl) m, límite (gl) m, lindeiro (gl) m, derrego (gl) m
• Georgian: მიჯნა (miǯna)
• German: Grenze (de) f
• Gothic: 𐌼𐌰𐍂𐌺𐌰 f (marka)
• Greek: σύνορο (el) n (sýnoro), όριο (el) n (ório)

  Ancient: ὅρος m (hóros)

• Hebrew: גְּבוּל (he) (g'vul)
• Hindi: सीमा (hi) f (sīmā)
• Hungarian: határ (hu), mezsgye (hu)
• Italian: confine (it), limite (it)
• Japanese: 境界 (ja) (きょうかい, kyōkai), 境 (ja) (さかい, sakai)
• Kikuyu: mũhaka class 3
• Kurdish:

  Central Kurdish: سِنور (sinur)

• Latin: terminus (la) m, finis (la) m
• Lithuanian: riba (lt) f
• Malayalam: അതിർത്തി (ml) (atiṟtti), അതിര് (ml) (atirŭ)
• Manchu: ᡠᠵᠠᠨ (ujan)
• Maori: kotinga, matawehe (interface where two differing media meet), pātanga, rohenga, rohe tauārai, paenga, taupā, tepe, aukati, tuakoi, ripa
• Mongolian: хил (mn) (xil), зааг (mn) (zaag), хилийн шугам (xiliin šugam), саад тотгор (saad totgor), тээг (mn) (teeg), садаа (mn) (sadaa)
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: grense (no) m or f, avgrensing m or f

  Nynorsk: grense f, avgrensing f

• Oromo: daangaa
• Persian: مرز (fa) (marz)
• Polish: granica (pl) f
• Portuguese: fronteira (pt) f
• Romanian: frontieră (ro) f, graniță (ro) f, limită (ro) f
• Russian: грани́ца (ru) f (graníca), межа́ (ru) f (mežá)
• Slovak: hranica f, medza f
• Somali: xad (so)
• Spanish: frontera (es) m, límite (es) m, linde (es) m or f, lindero (es) m, lindera f, confín (es) m, limes (es) m, aledaño (es) m, aledaños (es) m pl
• Swahili: mpaka (sw)
• Swedish: gräns (sv) c
• Tagalog: hangganan (tl)
• Tamil: எல்லை (ta) (ellai)
• Tyap: gak (kcg)
• Ukrainian: кордо́н (uk) m (kordón), межа́ f (mežá), грани́ця f (hranýcja)
• Welsh: ffin (cy) f
• Zazaki: sinor

bounds, confines, or limits between immaterial things

• French: limites (fr) f pl
• German: Grenzen (de) pl
• Hindi: सीमा (hi) f (sīmā)
• Hungarian: határok (hu) pl, keretek (hu) pl
• Malayalam: അതിര് (ml) (atirŭ)
• Russian: границы (ru) f pl (granicy)
• Spanish: límite (es) m, frontera (es) f, linde (es) m or f, limes (es) m

(topology) the set of points in the closure, not belonging to the interior

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 邊界 / 边界 (zh) (biānjiè)

• Czech: hranice (cs) f
• Danish: rand (da) c
• Dutch: rand (nl) m
• Finnish: reuna (fi)
• French: frontière (fr) f
• German: Rand (de) m
• Hebrew: שפה (he) f (safá)
• Hungarian: határ (hu)
• Icelandic: jaðar (is) m
• Japanese: 境界 (ja) (きょうかい, kyōkai)
• Latin: fines (la)
• Polish: brzeg (pl) m inan
• Portuguese: fronteira (pt) f
• Romanian: margine (ro) f
• Russian: грани́ца (ru) f inan (graníca), край (ru) m inan (kraj)
• Tagalog: hangganan (tl)
• Ukrainian: межа f inan (meža)
• Vietnamese: điểm biên

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

• Telugu: ^{(please verify)} ఎల్ల (te) (ella), ^{(please verify)} సరిహద్దు (te) (sarihaddu)

See also

• border
• confine
• fladry
• frontier

Further reading

• “boundary”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• William Dwight Whitney, Benjamin E[li] Smith, editors (1911), “boundary”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., →OCLC.