无缘
wú yuán · HSK 7
no chance
无缘 = 无 (without) + 缘 (fate, affinity): no shared fate, hence no chance or connection
缘 is the karmic thread of affinity that links people or events; 无 negates it. With zero connecting thread there is no opportunity and no way for things to meet up.
无 — top 一 + 林-like middle + fire radical 灬 below
Originally a pictograph of a person dancing while holding ornaments or tassels, meaning 'to dance' — the ancestor of 舞. It was borrowed phonetically to write the negative 'not have / without,' and the dance meaning was reassigned to 舞 with an added foot element. The simplified form 无 comes from an ancient variant.