外企
wài qǐ · HSK 7
foreign enterprise
🏢 外企 = 外 foreign/outside + 企 enterprise (from 企业)
外 — evening 夕 + divination 卜
Originally a compound of 夕 (evening) and 卜 (divination). Ancient Chinese divinations were performed in the morning; doing them at evening (夕) was considered irregular or 'outside' the norm. From this sense of deviation, 外 came to mean 'outside' or 'external'.