出局
chūjú · HSK 7
out
🚪🚫 chū = exit + jú = game board — walked out of the game
出 means exit or go out, 局 means game or situation. Together they say you've left the match — eliminated, out of the running. Think of someone stepping away from the table mid-game.
出 — foot 止 emerging from enclosure 凵
出 is a pictograph showing a foot or plant stepping out of a hollow or enclosure, depicting the act of going forth. The original sense of 'coming out' or 'emerging' has remained stable since oracle bone script. It now broadly means 'to exit, go out, or produce.'
局 — 尸 (body/shelter) + 句 (phrase, phonetic)
局 originally depicted a confined space marked off by a boundary, with 尸 suggesting an enclosed shelter and 句 hinting at the sound. From 'enclosed area' it extended to mean a chessboard square, then a defined situation, office, or bureau. Modern senses like 'department' and 'situation' grew from this idea of a bounded scope.