外衣
wài yī · HSK 6
outer clothing
🧥 外 (outside) + 衣 (clothing) = the coat you wear on the outside
The literal meaning is outer garment — a coat or jacket. By extension it means a facade or semblance, the way a coat covers what is underneath. Wài yī sounds like 'why E?' — why does the letter E always need a coat?
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'.