what do 形 and 便 mean and how can they combine to make the meaning "situation"?

Question

The Chinese word of 형편 (situation) in Korean is 形便. Can anyone explain what 形 and 便 mean and how can they combine to make the meaning "situation"?

Answer 1

If we look at MoE's definition of 形便, we get:

形容地理形勢優良便利。

Google Translate tell us this means:

Geographical situation is good and convenient

Basically you can think of 形便 as a mix of 形势 (situation) and 便利 (convenient).

---

Wiktionary also gives two English definitions:

Noun
advantages offered by terrain

Adjective
convenient (because of the location)

---

So is "situation" in there? Yeah, but it's buried in 形.