碰上
pèng shàng · HSK 7
to meet
💥 碰 = bump + 上 = on/up; to bump up against someone is to run into them
碰 means bump or knock; 上 means on or up. Bumping up onto someone by chance is exactly how English says you run into a person. 碰 also sounds like the pèng of a sudden collision.
碰 — stone 石 + together 並
A semantic-phonetic compound: 石 (stone) gives the meaning of hard objects striking, while 並 (bìng, 'together/side by side') hints at the sound and the idea of two things meeting. Originally describing stones knocking together, it broadened to mean 'bump into,' 'collide,' or 'encounter by chance.'
上 — horizontal line above a baseline
上 is an indicative character (指事): a short stroke placed above a longer reference line shows the concept of 'above' or 'up'. The earliest oracle-bone forms used two horizontal lines for this; the modern shape added a vertical stroke for clarity. The core meaning of 'upper, above, to ascend' has stayed stable for millennia.