外边
wài bian · HSK 1
outside
🚪🌳 外边 = outside (外) + side (边)
外 means outer/external; 边 means side or edge. Together 外边 literally reads as outer-side, meaning outside or the area beyond a boundary. Contrast with 里边 (inside = inner + side).
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'.
边 — 辶 (walk) + 臱 (phonetic)
边 is the simplified form of 邊. It combines the walking radical 辶 with the phonetic component 臱, suggesting a place reached by walking — the edge or border of a territory. The meaning extended from 'frontier' to 'side' or 'edge' in general.