外国
wàiguó · HSK 1
foreign country
🌍 外国 = outside + country
外 means outside or outer, and 国 means country or nation. Together they literally read as outside-country, i.e. a foreign country. Compare 中国 (middle-country = China) for the same 国 building block.
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'.
国 — enclosure 囗 + jade 玉
国 is a simplified form of 國. The outer 囗 represents borders or an enclosed territory, while the inner 玉 (jade) suggests a treasured realm ruled by a sovereign. The traditional 國 used 或 inside, depicting a guarded region with a weapon, later simplified by replacing it with 玉.