外援
wài yuán · HSK 7
aid
🤝 外 = outside/foreign + 援 = aid/assist; help that comes from outside
外 means outside or foreign; 援 means to aid or rescue (the 扌hand radical signals lending a hand). Together: aid reaching in from outside, like a foreign-aid grant or an imported star player on a team.
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'.