赤道

1. Origins, structure, and basic meaning

• Structure: 赤道, read せきどう, means the equator, the reference line dividing Earth into the Northern and Southern Hemispheres.
• Basic usage: Use it for the line on a globe or a vessel's crossing of it.

2. Common pitfalls and similar expressions

• Not a physical road
  • Although it contains 道, it is not a road to walk along. It is an imaginary geographical line.
• Crossing the line
  • In the example 赤道を越えた, を marks the boundary crossed.