外观
wàiguān · HSK 6
outward appearance
🐚 wài (outside) + guān (view) = the outside view, the shell
Break it down: 外 means outside or external, 观 means to look or a view. Together they form the external view — what something looks like on the surface, its outward appearance or shell.
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'.